• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2016

Though there is an abundant supply of nitrogen in the atmosphere, it cannot be used directly by the biological systems since it has to be combined with the element hydrogen before their incorporation. This process of nitrogen fixation ($N_2$-fixation) may be accomplished either chemically or biologically. Between the two elements, biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is a microbiological process that converts atmospheric di-nitrogen ($N_2$) into plant-usable form. In this review, the genetics and mechanism of nitrogen fixation including genes responsible for it, their types and role in BNF are discussed in detail. Nitrogen fixation in the different agricultural systems using different methods is discussed to understand the actual rather than the potential $N_2$-fixation procedure. The mechanism by which the diazotrophic bacteria improve plant growth apart from nitrogen fixation such as inhibition of plant ethylene synthesis, improvement of nutrient uptake, stress tolerance enhancement, solubilization of inorganic phosphate and mineralization of organic phosphate is also discussed. Role of diazotrophic bacteria in the enhancement of nitrogen fixation is also dealt with suitable examples. This mini review attempts to address the importance of diazotrophic bacteria in nitrogen fixation and plant growth improvement.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.189-200
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• 2005

Biological nitrogen fixation is an important process for academic and industrial aspects. This review will briefly compare industrial and biological nitrogen fixation and cover the characteristics of biological nitrogen fixation studied in Azotobacter vinelandii. Various organisms can carry out biological nitrogen fixation and recently the researches on the reaction mechanism were concentrated on the free-living microorganism, A. vinelandii. Nitrogen fixation, which transforms atmospheric $N_2$ into ammonia, is chemically a reduction reaction requiring electron donation. Nitrogenase, the biological nitrgen fixer, accepts electrons from biological electron donors, and transfers them to the active site, FeMo-cofactor, through $Fe_4S_4$ cluster in Fe protein and P-cluster in MoFe protein. The electron transport and the proton transport are very important processes in the nitrogenase catalysis to understand its reaction mechanism, and the interactions between FeMo-cofactor and nitrogen molecule are at the center of biological nitrogen fixation mechanism. Spectroscopic studies including protein X-ray crystallography, EPR and $M{\ddot{o}}ssbauer$, biochemical approaches including substrate and inhibitor interactions as well as site-directed mutation study, and chemical approach to synthesize the FeMo-cofactor model compounds were used for biological nitrogen fixation study. Recent research results from these area were presented, and finally, a new nitrogenase reaction mechanism will be proposed based on the various research results.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2005

In this study, we attempted to evaluate a novel use of sericin-fixed silk fiber (SFx) as an immobilization support of enzyme. Sericin was fixed on the silk fiber using glutaraldehyde as a fixation reagent. After 6 hours of fixation, the degree of fixation increases linearly with linear decrease of the amount of bound $\alpha$-chymotrypsin (CT). This suggests that the increase of the degree of fixation is due to the further crosslinking of free aldehyde groups on the surface of sericin-fixed silk fiber (SFx). Even though perfect fixation was not achieved, sericin did not dissolve seriously and could be removed by further washing. The specific activity did not differ significantly after 6 hours of fixation. The activity of immobilized CT on SFx decreased to its half after 6 hours of incubation at 50$^{\circ}C$. However, it retained $78\%$ of initial activity even after 1 hour of treat­ment with $100\%$ ethanol. As a result, the SFx could be used as an immobilization support of enzyme in non-aqueous media at ambient temperature.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.461-465
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• 2005

Characteristics of biological $CO_2$ fixation by Chlorella sp. HA-1 were investigated in a semi-continuous and series reactor system using an internally illuminated photobioreactor to overcome shortcomings of physicochemical technologies such as adsorption and membrane separation. High $CO_2$ fixation rate was achieved in the semi-continuous reactor system, in which the dilution ratios of the culture medium were controlled. The average $CO_2$ fixation rate was maintained almost constantly when the dilution ratio increased by 0.1 increment from the initial value of 0.5. The total removal efficiency of $CO_2$ was enhanced by employing a series reactor system. The average $CO_2$ fixation rate increased until 4.013 g $CO_2\;day^{-1}$ in a series operation of four reactors, compared to 0.986 g $CO_2\;day^{-1}$ in a batch operation mode. The total $CO_2$ fixation rate was proportional to the number of reactors used in the series reactor system. In the series reactor system of semi-continuous operation, a large amount of $CO_2$ was removed continuously for 30 days. These results showed that the present reactor systems are efficient and economically feasible for a biological $CO_2$ fixation.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.354-359
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• 2003

$CO_2$fixation by microalgae has emerged as a promising option for $CO_2$mitigation. In-tensive research work has been carried out to develop a feasible system for removing $CO_2$from industrial exhaust gases. However, there are still several challenging points to overcome in order to make the process more practical. In this paper, recent research activities on three key technologies of biological $CO_2$fixation, an identification of a suitable algal strain, development of high efficient photobioreactor and utilization of algal cells produced, are described. Finally the barriers, progress, and prospects of commercially developing a biological $CO_2$fixation process are summarized.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.644-648
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• 2000

Biological fixation of carbon dioxide using microalgae is known as an effective CO$_2$reduction technology. However, many environmental factors influence microalgal productivity. Optimal cultivation factors were determined for the green alga, Euglena gracilis Z, which offers high protein and vitamin E content for animal fodder. In batch culture in a photovioreactor, it was found that theinitial pH, temperature, CO$_2$concentration in air, and light intensity during the optimal cultivating conditions were 3.5, 27$^{\circ}C$, 5-10% and 520 ${\mu}$mol/㎡/s, respectively. When tap water and freshwater were used as cultivating media unsterilized tap water was found to be effective. A kinetic model was considered to determine the relationship between the specific growth rate and the light intensity. The half-velocity coefficient (K(sub)I) in the Monod model under photoautotrophic conditions was 978.9 ${\mu}$mol/㎡/s.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.188-192
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• 2016

Proper sample preparation prior to microscopy is necessary for maintaining the components of tissues in a state as close to a living state as possible. For optimal preservation of biological samples, the sampling conditions are as important as the fixation itself. Various factors influence the selection and fixation efficiencies of a fixative, including sample size, osmolarity, pH, penetration rate and depth, fixative temperature, fixation time, fixative concentration, fixative amount, and retention time. Therefore, several factors for selecting and administering fixation procedures are evaluated pertaining to optimal sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.340-345
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• 2003

Feasibility of large-scale photobioreactors for biological CO$_2$ fixation was investigated using Chlorella sp. HA-1. Generally, as the volume of photobioreactor increased, the CO$_2$ fixation rate decreased because of a lower illumination efficiency in large-scale than in small-scale photobioreactors. Though controlling the arrangement and the number of light source, the maximum CO$_2$ fixation rates that could be achieved were 530 and 357 gCO$_2$/㎡day for 40 L and 188 L photobioreactor, respectively, which was higher than the CO$_2$ fixation rate of lab-scale photobioreactor.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.261-268
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• 1987

A green house experiment was conducted to find out the differences in the amount of biologically fixed nitrogen and kjeldahl nitrogen on the different soil texture, kinds and amounts of fertilizer nitrogen under light (photosynthetic $N_2$-fixation) and dark (heterotrophic $N_2$-fixation) condition in submerged paddy soil. The reults obtained were summarized as follows; 1. The amount of biologically fixed nitrogen per mg carbon from different organic matter was obtained as 0.13 mg in glucose, 0.09 mg in rice straw, and 0.07 mg in refused mushroom compost and barley straw under 60 days of incubation. 2. Nitrogen fixing activities were decreased with increase of fertilizer nitrogen and those tendency was pronounced more in sandy soil with application of urea than that of ammonium sulfate. 3. The application of ammonium sulfate in sandy soil under light condition was increased the photosynthetic $N_2$-fixation and the applied urea was remarkably reduced the heterotrophic $N_2$-fixation in sandy soil. The proportion of biologically fixed total nitrogen after experiment in sandy soil was obtained as 25% for dark(heterotrophic $N_2$-fixation) and 75% for light (photosynthetic $N_2$-fixation) condition. On the other hand, very similar biological $N_2$-fixing tendency was obtained between kinds of nitrogen fertilizer and two light condition in clayey soil. 4. The kjeldahl nitrogen was remarkably decreased after experiment under dark condition with application of urea than that of light condition with ammonium sulfate, and no remarkable decreasing tendency was obtained in clayey soil between two kinds of fertilizer nitrogen. 5. The high significant positive correlationship was obtained between calculated biological nitrogen fixation by acetylene reducing activity and kjeldahl nitrogen after experiment under light (y=0.8488X-5.9632, $r=0.9928^{**}$, n=21) and dark (y=0.8795X-7.1056, $r=0.9782^{**}$, n=21) condition. In this experiment condition, conversion factors of 6:1 was obtained from biological nitrogen fixation to soil nitrogen.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.1970-1972
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• 2014

A facile and efficient synthesis of dronedarone hydrochloride starting from commercially available 4-nitrophenol is described. This approach features a tandem-type synthesis of 3-carbonylated benzofuran involving cyclization of 2-ethynylphenol followed by $CO_2$ fixation at the 3-position of the benzofuran ring mediated by potassium carbonate without the addition of any transition metal catalyst.