• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.741-748
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• 2019

As the occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become severe in precious water resources, the development of efficient harmful algae treatment methods is considering as an important environmental issue for sustainable conservation of water resources. To treat HABs in water resources, various conventional physical and chemical methods have been utilized and showed treatment efficiency, However, these methods can lead to discharging of cyanotoxins into the water bodies by chemical or physical algal cell lysis or destruction. Thus, to overcome this limitation, the development of safe HABs treatment methods is required. In the present study, adsorption technology was investigated for the removal of harmful algal species, Microcystis aeruginosa from aqueous phases. Industrial waste biomass, Corynebacterium glutamicum biomass was valorized as biosorbent (PEI-modified alginate/biomass composite fiber; PEI-AlgBF) for M. aeruginosa through immobilization with alginate matrix and cationic polymer (polyethylenimine; PEI) coating. The functional groups characteristic of PEI-Alg was determined using FT-IR analysis. By adsorption process used PEI-AlgBF, 52 and 67% of M. aeruginosa could be removed under the initial density of M. aeruginosa 200×10⁴ cells mL^-1 and 50×10⁴ cells mL^-1, respectively. As the increasing surface area of PEI-AlgBF, the removal efficiency was increased. In addition, we could find that adsorptive removal of M. aeruginosa has occurred without any M. aeruginosa cell lysis and destruction.

• ALGAE
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.127-141
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• 2018

Low efficiency in microalgal biomass production was largely attributed to the low density of algal cell cultures. Though mutations that reduced the level of chlorophyll or pigment content increased efficiency of photon usage and thus the cell-culture density under high-illumination growth conditions (e.g., >$500{\mu}mol\;photon\;m^{-2}\;s^{-1}$), it was unclear whether algae could increase cell-culture density under low-illumination conditions (e.g., ${\sim}50{\mu}mol\;photon\;m^{-2}\;s^{-1}$). To address this question, we performed forward genetic screening in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. A pool of >1,000 insertional mutants was constructed and subjected to continuous subcultures in shaking flasks under low-illumination conditions. Complexity of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) pattern in cultures indicated the degree of heterogeneity of mutant populations. We showed that the levels of RFLP complexity decreased when cycles of subculture increased, suggesting that cultures were gradually populated by high cell-culture density (HCD) strains. Analysis of the 3 isolated HCD mutants after 30 cycles of subcultures confirmed that their maximal biomass production was 50-100% higher than that of wild type under low-illumination. Furthermore, levels of chlorophyll content in HCD mutant strains were similar to that of wild type. Inverse polymerase chain reaction analysis identified the locus of insertion in two of three HCD strains. Molecular and transcriptomic analyses suggested that two HCD mutants were a result of the gain-of-function phenotype, both linking to the abnormality of mitochondrial functions. Taken together, our results demonstrate that HCD strains can be obtained through continuous subcultures under low illumination conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.210-215
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• 2018

It is difficult to count colonial cyanobacteria Microcystis cells since the thickness of colonies is constrained by amorphous mucilage, making it impossible to estimate the number of cells. Disaggregation of Microcystis colonies into single cell is needed to improve the accuracy and precision of cell density estimation of naturally collected samples. Uultrasonic treatment method is commonly used owing to the simplicity and immediacy of the procedure. However, amplitude, frequency, and duration of ultrasonic treatment also cause cell loss during the experiment. Optimal ultrasonic treatment has not been standardized yet. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate optimal ultrasonic treatment by analyzing cell density and colony numbers. We collected colonial Microcystis from Changnyeong-Haman weir area in Nakdong River during harmful algal boom period from September to October in 2017. Ultrasonic treatment method was applied to disrupt colonies into single cells to enumerate cell density. Among treatment conditions, results from continuously treated for 100 seconds were found to be the optimum to reduce colonies to a suspension of single cell without cell losses under high and low density of Microcystis cells. Lugol iodine fixed cells followed by sonication showed less negative impact of cell damage within the optimal treatment time (100 seconds). Furthermore, disaggregated cells treated by sonication enables microscopic observation more easily since gas vacuoles were collapsed to facilitate sedimentation of cells under the counting chamber for quantitative enumeration of buoyant Microcystis cells.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.115-123
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• 2009

Grazing effects of a freshwater bivalve, Unio douglasiae, on both the phytoplankton communities of cold- and warm eutrophic lakes were examined in aquarium with sediment. The animal U. douglasiae used in the study was collected from the Gunsan (Jeonbuk), acclimatized in laboratory aquaria with washed sand from the mussel collection stream, and starved for $2{\sim}3$ days by the experiment. Grazing experiments were performed with the surface waters collected from Lake Ilgam (Seoul) in the cold period (March 31, 2008), and the warm period (June 19, 2008), respectively. Results clearly showed that the concentration of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) and algal abundance were decreased with the increase of mussel-treated density and treated-time. At the same animal density, U. douglasiae effectively decreased the chl-a of cold-lake water (CW), compared to warm-lake water (WW). Increasing the mussel density, the filtering rate (or algal abundance) of the mussel on the CW gradually decreased, while those of WW did not increase or decrease. Major phytoplankton species Synedra ulna and Stephanodiscus hantzschii, and Scenedesmus ecornis in CW, and those of Tetraedron regulare and Pediastrum simplex in WW, were quickly decreased after the mussel stocking. Interestingly, cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa in WW, not dominant species, were less removed. These results suggest that a freshwater bivalve U. douglasiae have a strategic potential to control dense hibernal diatom or green algae, rather than the cyanobacterial bloom in eutrophic water.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1881-1888
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• 2011

Red tide is a natural phenomenon to bloom harmful algal, which fish and shellfish die en masse. Red tide damage with respect to sea farming has been occurred each year. Red tide damage can be minimized by means of prediction of red tide blooms. Red tide prediction using naive bayes classifier can be achieve good prediction results. The result of naive bayes method only determine red tide blooms, whereas the method can not know how increasing of red tide algae density. In this paper, we proposed the red tide blooms prediction method using fuzzy reasoning and naive bayes classifier. The proposed method can enhance the precision of red tide prediction and forecast the increasing density of red tide algae.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.194-199
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• 2001

Chlorella kessleri cultivated in artificial wastewater using diurnal illumination of 12h light/12h dark (L/D) cycles. The inoculum density was 10(sup)5 cells/mL and the irradiance in light cycle was 45$\mu$mol㎡s(sup)-1 at the culture surface. As a control culture, another set of flasks was cultivated under continuous illumination. Regardless of the illumination scheme, the total organic carbon (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) was reduced below 20% of the initial concentration within a day. However, cell concentration under the L/D lighting scheme was lower tan that under the continuous illuminating scheme. Thus the specific removal rate of organic carbon under L/D cycles was higher than that under continuous illumination. This result suggested that C. kessleri grew chemoorganotrophically in the dark periods. After 3 days, nitrate was reduced to 136.5 and 154.1mg NO$_3$-N/L from 168.1mg NO$_3$-N/L under continuous illumination and under diurnal cycles, respectively. These results indicate nitrate removal efficiency under continuous light was better than that under diurnal cycles. High-density algal cultures using optimized photobioreactors with diurnal cycles will save energy and improve organic carbon sources removal.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.478-481
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• 2006

Energy is vital to global prosperity, yet dependence on fossil fuels as our primary energy source contributes to global climate change environmental degradation, and health problems. Hydrogen $(H_2)$ offers tremendous potential as a clean renewable energy currency. Hydrogen has the highest gravimetric energy density of any known fuel and is compatible with electrochemical and combustion processes for energy conversion without producing carbon-based emission that contribute to environmental pollution and climate change. Numerous methodologies have been developed for effective hydrogen production. Among them, the biological hydrogen production has gained attention, because hydrogen can be produced by cellular metabolismunder the presence of water and sunlight. The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is capable of sustained $H_2$ photoproduction when grown under sulfur deprived condition. Under sulfur deprived conditions, PSII and photosynthetic $O_2$ evolution are inactivated, resulting in shift from aerobic to anaerobic condition in the culture. After anaerobiosis, sulfur deprived algal cells induce a reversible hydrogenase and start to evolve $H_2$ gas in the light. According to above principle, we investigated the effect of induction parameters such as cell age, cell density. light intensity, and sulfate concentration under sulfur deprived condition We also developed continuous hydrogen production system by sulfate re-addition under sulfur deprived condition.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.543-562
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• 1996

Zooplankton community structure and the factors correlated with community differences were examined in sandusky Bay (SB) and the open water of Lake Erie (LE, U.S.A.). SB zooplankton communities differed from those in LE by having a greater rotifer density and species richness. Keratella spp., Brachionus spp., and Pompholyx complanata dominated SB rotifers; Brachionus and Pompholyx were rarely seen in LE. Of 19 rotifer species observed, nine species were found only at SB sites. Ordination of zooplankton species abundance by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) showed an overlap between SB and LE sites, but indicated a portion of the space that was occupied by only SB communities. The seasonal trajectories of zooplankton dynamics in the ordination space at SB sites differed from that of LE. The zooplankton most important in forcing site separation along a DCA Axis I at SB sites were Brachionus angularis, Pompholyx complanata, Keratella valga, Keratella quadrata, Filinia terminalis (rotifers), and Eubosmina coregoni and Daphnia (cladocerans). These species had axis scores which were significantly correlated (p<0.01) with bacterial density and bacterial phosphorus, total phosphorus, and algal density. Very high baterial density and very abundant bacterivorous rotifers in SB suggest that the transport of bacterial carbon through rotifers may be a relatively important link to higher trophic leaels. We believe that this "microbial carbon flow" from the base of the food web may be important in determining the suitability of SB as a spawning site and nursery for larval and juvenile fish.nile fish.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.534-538
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• 2019

The distribution and characteristics of spawning beds of the Pacific herring Clupea pallasii, were observed by scuba diving in Jinhae Bay, Korea, with a focus on marine vegetation as adhesive substrates and egg density during the spawning season. In 2017, the fertilized eggs of C. pallasii were mainly found attached to the leaves of algae species Carpopeltis cornea, Gracilaria textorii, and Acrosrium polyneurum at the rocky shore in Wonpo-dong and Jeodo. The mean density of fertilized eggs in C. pallasii spawning beds was $153,776eggs/m^2$ off Wonpo-dong and $856,430eggs/m^2$ off Jeodo, giving an estimated total of $5.345{\times}10^9$ eggs in Wonpo-dong and $3.3074{\times}10^{10}$ eggs in Jeodo. We examined spawning beds with an area of $38,619m^2$ off Wonpo-dong and $34,760m^2$ off Jeodo. The choice of spawning bed may be affected by the composition of marine vegetation, such as the algal diversity of rocky shore environments, which could affect adhesive substrates and egg density during the spawning season. The results of the present study suggest that the spawning season of C. pallasii in Jinhae Bay is in January to mid-February.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.432-438
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• 2018

Microalgae hold promise as a renewable energy source for the production of biofuel, as they can convert light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. However, cost-efficient harvest of microalgae remains a major challenge to commercial-scale algal biofuel production. We first investigated the potential of electrolytic water as a flocculant for harvesting Tetraselmis sp. Alkaline electrolyzed water (AEW) is produced at the cathode through water electrolysis. It contains mineral ions such as $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $Mg^{2+}$ that can act as flocculants. The flocculation activity with AEW was evaluated via culture density, AEW concentration, medium pH, settling time, and ionic strength analyses. The flocculation efficiency was 88.7% at 20% AEW (pH 8, 10 min) with a biomass concentration of 2 g/l. The initial biomass concentration and medium pH had significant influences on the flocculation activity of AEW. A viability test of flocculated microalgal cells was conducted using Evans blue stain, and the cells appeared intact. Furthermore, the growth rate of Tetraselmis sp. in recycled flocculation medium was similar to the growth rate in fresh F/2 medium. Our results suggested that AEW flocculation could be a very useful and affordable methodology for fresh biomass harvesting with environmentally friendly easy operation in part of the algal biofuel production process.