• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.131-135
• /
• 2005

Under sulfur deprived conditions, PS II and photosynthetic $O_2$ evolution by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii UTEX 90 are inactivated, resulting in shift from aerobic to anaerobic condition. This is followed by hydrogen production catalyzed by hydrogenase. We hypothesized that the photosynthetic capacity and the accumulation of endogenous substrates such as starch for hydrogen production might be different according to cell age. Accordingly, we investigated (a) the relationships between hydrogen production, induction time of sulfur deprivation, increase of chlorophyll after sulfur deprivation, and residual PS II activity, and (b) the effect of initial cell density upon sulfur deprivation. The maximum production volume of hydrogen was 151 ml $H_2$/l with 0.91 g/l of cell density in the late-exponential phase. We suggest that the effects of induction time and initial cell density at sulfur deprivation on hydrogen production, up to an optimal concentration, are due to an increase of chlorophyll under sulfur deprivation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.92-100
• /
• 1996

For the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)(P(3HB-co-3HV)) from butyric acid and valeric acid, 10 strains of bacteria capable of producing P(3HB-co-3HV) were isolated from soil. Among them, the strain HJ-067 showed the best ability of producing P(3HB-co-3HV), and was indentified as a Azotobacter sp. For the production of P(3HB-co-3HV), the optimum concentrations of butyric and valeric acid were 3.0g/l, respectively. The most effective nitrogen source was $(NH_4)_{2}SO_4$ at an optimum concentration of 0.75g/l, which was equivalent to 21.36 in C/N ratio. Deficiency of the cationic metal ions ($Zn^{2+},\;Co^{2+},\;Mn^{2+}$) in the proguction medium had stimulating effect on P(3HB-co-3HV) accumulation, especially in the manganese. deficient medium. The optimum temperature for P(3HB-co-3HV) production was 27$^{\circ}C$ and the optimum initial pH was 7.0. Under the optimum conditions, 1.82g/l of P(3HB-co-3HV) and 3.00g/l of dry biomass were produced after 36 hour cultivation, and the P(3HB-co-3HV) yield and HV% were 60.60% (w/w), 15.92%, respectively.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.286-291
• /
• 2002

Seedling establishment of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is a critical factor in production system and cultural practices. The objective of this study was to identify the components of soybean seedling developments encompassing planting dates and cultivars that respond to emergence, early growth stage and dry matter accumulation. Three soybean cultivars, Hwangkeumkong, Shinpaldalkong 2, and Pungsannamulkong, were planted at Baegsan silty loam soil. Planting date was May 13, June 3, and June 24 in 2001. Sprinkler irrigation was accompanied with 30mm after seeding for three planting dates. Soybean seedlings were sampled at the growth stages from VE to V5. Days to emergence of soybean seedlings were taken 8 at May 13 and 5 at June 24 plantings. Emergence percentage was over 90 at three planting dates. May 13 planting took 33 days and June 24 planting was 25 days for reaching V5 growth stage. Cotyledon number was decreased after V2. Significant cultivar difference was found in cotyledon dry weight until V2 which differed in seed dry weights at the planting times. Leaf and total dry weights of soybean seedlings were not differed from V1 to V3 among planting dates and cultivars. Leaf water contents were generally ranged 78 to 85%. Branch was appeared from V4. Leaf/stem ratio among cultivars was similar at five growth stages and gradually increased from 2.1 at V1 to 2.8 at V5. The results based on this experiment indicated that seedling establishment of soybean was continued from VE to V3 growth stages affecting mainly by planting date and soil moisture.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.273-278
• /
• 1991

Methanol assimilating bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. ILS-003 was used to investigate the optimum conditions for the production of $poly-{\beta}-hydroxybutyric$ acid from methanol. For PHB production, the optimum initial pH was 6.4 and the optimum temperature was $30^{\circ}C$. Also the optimum methanol concentration was found to be 1.0%(v/v). In the PHB production, $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ was the most effective nitrogen source and the optimum concentration was 0.8 g/l, which was eqivalent to 17.4 in C/N ratio. Also, deficiency of the 2 valence metal ions in the medium had stimulating effect on PHB accumulation. Under the optimum substrate concentration, successive feeding of 0.25%(v/v) methanol was the most effective on PHB production. Under the optimum conditions, 1.94 g/l of PHB and 2.78 g/l of dry biomass were produced in 96 hours, and the yield was 69.8%(w/w).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.522-533
• /
• 2014

Bionanotechnology has revolutionized nanomaterial synthesis by providing a green synthetic platform using biological systems. Among such biological systems, microalgae have tremendous potential to take up metal ions and produce nanoparticles by a detoxification process. The present study explores the intracellular and extracellular biogenic syntheses of silver nanoparticles (SNPs) using the unicellular green microalga Scenedesmus sp. Biosynthesized SNPs were characterized by AAS, UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM, XRD, FTIR, DLS, and TGA studies and finally checked for antibacterial activity. Intracellular nanoparticle biosynthesis was initiated by a high rate of $Ag^+$ ion accumulation in the microalgal biomass and subsequent formation of spherical crystalline SNPs (average size, 15-20 nm) due to the biochemical reduction of $Ag^+$ ions. The synthesized nanoparticles were intracellular, as confirmed by the UV-Vis spectra of the outside medium. Furthermore, extracellular synthesis using boiled extract showed the formation of well scattered, highly stable, spherical SNPs with an average size of 5-10 nm. The size and morphology of the nanoparticles were confirmed by TEM. The crystalline nature of the SNPs was evident from the diffraction peaks of XRD and bright circular ring pattern of SAED. FTIR and UV-Vis spectra showed that biomolecules, proteins and peptides, are mainly responsible for the formation and stabilization of SNPs. Furthermore, the synthesized nanoparticles exhibited high antimicrobial activity against pathogenic gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Use of such a microalgal system provides a simple, cost-effective alternative template for the biosynthesis of nanomaterials in a large-scale system that could be of great use in biomedical applications.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.7-13
• /
• 2005

In the present study, we investigated the tolerance of Commelina communis to growth in Cu-contaminated soil and water We examined the germination rate, root and shoot growth of seedlings, fresh biomass in soil and water, and ability to eliminate Cu. We found that C. communis eliminated 41% of Cu in soil containing 50 mg Cu/kg and removed over 50% of Cu from water containing 100 mg Cu/L Cu. In addition, the plants could accumulate 90 mg Cu/g when grown in soil containing 50 mg Cu/kg and 140 mg Cu/g when grown in soil containing 100 mg Cu/kg thus higher levels of Cu removal were observed in soils containing higher Cu concentrations. In water, the maximal accumulation rate was 4.9 mg Cu/g root and 1.2 mg Cu/g shoot in water containing 20 mg Cu/L, and 7 days after exposure, Cu absorption saturated. Further, the growth rate of C. communis was not affected by up to 100 mg Cu/kg in the soil. Therefore, the phytotoxic effect of Cu on plants increased as the concentration of Cu was raised, although to different extents depending on whether the Cu was in soil or water. Overall, Cu removal from soil by C. communis was most effective at 100 mg Cu/kg in soil and 10 mg Cu/L in water. Finally, we identified two peaks of Cu-binding ligands in C. communis. Which is a high molecular weight peak (HMWL) at 60 kDa (Fraction 17 to 25) and a Cu binding peptide peak at <1 kDa (Very low molecular weight ligand: VLMWL). Cu-binding peptide (Cu-BP) was observed to have an amino acid composition typical of phytochelations.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.110-117
• /
• 2014

Recently microalgae have been proposed as a promising biodiesel feedstock, owing to their higher lipid productivity and non-arable land based cultivation system. Biomass and lipid productivities of microalgae are largely affected by various environmental and nutritional factors. In this study, the effects of nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) and organic carbon (glucose and glycerol) sources on the cell growth and lipid production of Chlorella sp. KR-1 were examined in flask cultures. Under autotrophic culture conditions for 15 days, overall cell growth and lipid (fatty acid methyl ester, FAME) production with nitrate were better than those of ammonium, resulting in 1.06 g cell/L and 333 mg FAME/L, respectively. Maximal intracellular lipid contents (348 - 352 mg FAME/g cell) were observed at low concentrations of 1 mM for both nitrate and ammonium. In the supply of light, addition of glucose in the range of 1 - 20 g/L showed higher cell densities than the autotrophic cell growth condition. Higher lipid accumulation of 375 mg FAME/g cell could achieved at 5 g glucose/L albeit of relatively short incubation of 7 days. With glycerol, intracellular lipid contents were ~1.9 times lower than glucose cases although similar cell growths were observed for both carbon sources.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.20 no.1 s.90
• /
• pp.34-39
• /
• 2005

In order to product the furofuranoid lignans, (+)-eudesmin which is one of the secondary products from Magnolia sieboldii. through cell suspension cultures; various culture media, initial sucrose concentration, elicitations, shaking speeds, and inoculum sizes. Among the culture media tested, MS medium had a pronounced effect on suspension cell growth and (+)-eudesmin contents. The maximum dry cell weight (DCW) of 3.71 g per flask was obtained at inoculum size of 0.5 g and in MS medium supplemented with $3\%$ sucrose plus 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D after 8 weeks. (+)-Eudesmin biosynthesis was stimulated with high initial sucrose concentration ,and the maximum (+)-eudesmin production of $3.2{\mu}g/g$ DCW was achieved at 200mg/L chitosan and $5\%$ initial medium sucrose. The optimal shaking speeds for dry biomass accumulation and (+)-eudesmin contents was 130 rpm. This work is considered to be helpful for large-scale bioprocessing of Magnolia sieboldii suspension cell cultures in bioreactor.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.465-469
• /
• 2006

Two mesophilic trickling bed bioreactors filled with two different types of media, hydrophilic- and hydrophobic-cubes, were designed and tested for hydrogen production via anaerobic fermentation of sucrose. Each reactor consisted of a column packed with polymeric cubes and inoculated with heat-treated sludge obtained from anaerobic digestion tank. A defined medium containing sucrose was fed with changing flow rate into the capped reactor, hydraulic retention time and recycle rate. Hydrogen concentrations in gas-phase were constant, averaging 40% for all conditions tested. Hydrogen production rates increased up to $10.5 L{\cdot};h^{-1}{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of reactor when influent sucrose concentrations and recycle rates were varied. Hydrophobic media provided higher value of hydrogen production rate than hydrophilic media at the same operation conditions. No methane was detected when the reactor was under a normal operation. The major fermentation by-products in the liquid effluent of the both trickling biofilters were acetate and butyrate. The reactor filled with hydrophilic media became clogged with biomass and bio gas, requiring manual cleaning of the system, while no clogging occurred in the reactor with hydrophobic media. In order to make long-term operation of the reactor filled with hydrophilic media feasible, biofilm accumulation inside the media in the reactor with hydrophilic media and biogas produced from the reactor will need to be controlled through some process such as periodical backwashing or gas-purging. These tests using trickling bed biofilter with hydrophobic media demonstrate the feasibility of the process to produce hydrogen gas in a trickle-bed type of reactor. A likely application of this reactor technology could be hydrogen gas recovery from pre-treatment of high carbohydrate-containing wastewaters.

• Advances in environmental research
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.19-35
• /
• 2016

The phytoextraction of some toxic heavy metals from municipal waste dump soil by castor plant (Ricinus communis) was tested under natural and single or mixed chelant-assisted scenarios in pot microcosms. A sandy loam with total metal contents (mg/kg): Cd (84.5), Cu (114.5), Ni (70.3), Pb (57.8), and Zn (117.5), was sampled from an active dumpsite in Calabar, Nigeria and used for the study. Castor (small seed variety) was grown under natural phytoextraction or single/binary chelant (citric acid, oxalic acid, and EDTA) applications (5-20 mmol/kg soil) for 63 days. Castor exhibited no visual phytotoxic symptoms with typically sigmoid growth profiles at the applied chelant doses. Growth rates, however, decelerated with increase in chelant dose. Post-harvest biomass yields were higher under chelant application than for natural phytoextraction. Both root and shoot metal concentrations (mg/kg) increased quasilinearly and significantly ($p{\leq}0.05$) with increase in chelant dose, furnishing maximum levels as: Cd (55.6 and 20.9), Cu (89.5 and 58.4), Ni (49.8 and 19.6), Pb (32.1 and 12.1), and Zn (99.5 and 46.6). Ranges of translocation factors, root and shoot bioaccumulation factors were 0.21-3.49, 0.01-0.89 and 0.01-0.51, respectively. Overall, the binary chelant treatments were less toxic for R. communis growth and enhanced metal accumulation in shoots to a greater extent than the single chelant scenarios, but more so when EDTA was present in the binary combination. This suggests that the mixed chelants could be considered as alternative treatments for enhanced phytoextraction and revegetation of degraded waste dump soils.