• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.603-607
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• 2016

A crude extracellular lipase from solvent-tolerant bacterium Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 106 was highly stable in the broad pH range of 4-10 and at temperature of 37℃. Crude lipase of BCNU 106 exhibited enhanced stability in 25% organic solvents such as xylene (121.85%), hexane (120.35%), octane (120.41 %), toluene (118.14%), chloroform (103.66%) and dodecane (102.94%) and showed excellent stability comparable with the commercial immobilized enzyme. In addition, the stability of BCNU 106 lipase retained above 110% of its enzyme activity in the presence of Cu²⁺, Hg²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Mn²⁺, whereas Fe²⁺ strongly inhibited its stability. The detergents including tween 80, triton X-100 and SDS were positive signals for lipase stability. Because of its stability in multiple organic solvents, cations and surfactants, the Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 106 lipase could be considered as a potential biocatalyst in the industrial chemical processes without using immobilization.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2003

Shihwa tidal freshwater marsh was constructed recently to treat pollutants entering Shihwa lake. In this study, we examined the spatial and temporal patterns of heavy metal accumulation in soils of Shihwa marsh and sought correlations between several soil variables (pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, and acid ammonium oxalate-extractable Fe and Al contents) and the heavy metal concentration of soils. Surface soil samples (0∼20 cm) were collected in June 2000, November 2000, and July 2001, and were analyzed for heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr, As, and Hg) and soil chemical properties. The neutral pH and water-saturated conditions of Shihwa marsh appeared to favor immobilization of heavy metal through adsorption onto soils. The concentrations of heavy metal (especially Zn, Cu, and Cr) in soils of Shihwa marsh increased along the sampling occasions, suggesting that soils of Shihwa marsh serve as a sink of heavy metal. Among the sub-marshes, metal concentrations were highest in Banweol high marshes and lowest in Samhwa marshes. The temporal and spatial variations in the heavy metal concentrations of soils were correlated positively with organic matter and oxalate extractable Fe and Al contents, but negatively with electrical conductivity. These results suggest that organic matter and hydrous oxide of Fe/Al may playa key role in removing heavy metals in soils of Shihwa marsh, and that heavy metal removing capacity would increase with desalinization. However, the removal patterns of heavy metal by reeds warrant further studies to evaluate the total removal capacity of heavy metals by Shihwa marsh.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.255-264
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• 2012

The stabilization using limestone ($CaCO_3$) and steel making slag as the immobilization amendments for Cu and Pb contaminated farmland soils was investigated by batch tests, continuous column experiments and the pilot scale feasibility study with 4 testing grounds at the contaminated site. From the results of batch experiment, the amendment with the mixture of 3% of limestone and 2% of steel making slag reduced more than 85% of Cu and Pb compared with the soil without amendment. The acryl column (1 m in length and 15 cm in diameter) equipped with valves, tubes and a sprinkler was used for the continuous column experiments. Without the amendment, the Pb concentration of the leachate from the column maintained higher than 0.1 mg/L (groundwater tolerance limit). However, the amendment with 3% limestone and 2% steel making slag reduced more than 60% of Pb leaching concentration within 1 year and the Pb concentration of leachate maintained below 0.04 mg/L. For the testing ground without the amendment, the Pb and Cu concentrations of soil water after 60 days incubation were 0.38 mg/L and 0.69 mg/l, respectively, suggesting that the continuous leaching of Cu and Pb may occur from the site. For the testing ground amended with mixture of 3% of limestone + 2% of steel making slag, no water soluble Pb and Cu were detected after 20 days incubation. For all testing grounds, the ratio of Pb and Cu transfer to plant showed as following: root > leaves(including stem) > rice grain. The amendment with limestone and steel making slag reduced more than 75% Pb and Cu transfer to plant comparing with no amendment. The results of this study showed that the amendment with mixture of limestone and steel making slag decreases not only the leaching of heavy metals but also the plant transfer from the soil.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 1998

The biosorption of heavy metals has received a lot of attraction for application of metal ions treatment. In this work, we studied with Arthrobactor sp., screening from a wastewater containing heavy metals. The Pb uptake capacity of Arthrobactor sp. was nearly 146.9 mg Pb/g dry biomass(initial concentration, 500 may L), whereas the Pb uptake capacity of Sacchuomyces cerevisiae and Sacchuomyces uvuum were only around 39.40 and 35.65 mg Pb yg dry biomass, respectively. The Pb and Cr were removed from metal solution much more effeciently than were the other metals(Cd and Cu). The Pb uptake capacity of Aythrobactor sp. increased with increasing in pH(1.8, 3.0 and 4.0) and decreased with Increaslng of biomass concentration. At pH 4.0, the Pb uptake capacity reached 244 mg Pb/g dry biomass in Pb initial concentration of 1000 mg/L. The Pb uptake capacity of Ayhol)actor sp. treated by KOH and $CaCl_2$ were increased above values obtained with untreated Ayurobactor sp. However, the Pb uptake capacity fore the breakthrough points were reached.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.278-284
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• 2015

In general, plant roots accumulate more heavy metals than the above ground organs such as leaf, stem, and fruit. This implies that root medicinal plants would be an issue with excessive heavy metal accumulation. Therefore, the current study was carried out to investigate the distribution of heavy metal (focused on Cd and Pb) concentrations in soils and medicinal plant roots grown in different region of Korea. Total 293 samples for each soil and plant were collected along the national wide. Soil pH, total and phytoavailable metal concentrations (1 M $NH_4NO_3$ extracted) in soils were determined and heavy metal concentrations in root of the medicinal plants were analyzed. Heavy metal concentrations of the soil samples studied were not exceeded standard limits legislated in 'Soil Environmental Conservation Act', except 2 samples for Cu. However, substantial amount of Cd was accumulated in medicinal plant roots with 29% samples exceeding the standard limit legislated in 'Pharmaceutical Affairs Act' while all plant samples were lower than the standard limit value for Pb. Also the current study demonstrated that cadmium concentrations in the roots were governed by the phytoavailable Cd in soils, which decreased as soil pH increased. From this result, application of heavy metal immobilization technique using a pH change-induced immobilizing agents can be suggested for safer root medicinal plant production.

• Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology : HEB
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.775-786
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• 2018

To test the hypothesis that humic acid (HA), anaerobically digested pig slurry filtrate (APS), and their combination would differently affect the chemical speciation and extractability of metals (cadmium, copper, and zinc) and their uptake by plants, we conducted a pot experiment using wormwood in two texturally contrasting soils (sandy loam and clay loam) collected from a field near an abandoned Cu mine. Four treatments were laid out: HA at $ 23.5g\;kg^{-1}$ (HA), APS at $330mL\;kg^{-1}$ (APS), HA at $ 23.5g\;kg^{-1}$ and APS at $330mL\;kg^{-1}$ (HA + APS), and a control. Each treatment affected the chemical speciation and mobility of the metals, and thereby resulting in variable patterns of plant biomass yield and metal uptake. The APS supported plant growth by increasing nutrient availability. HA supported or hindered plant growth by impacting the soil's water and nutrient retention capacity and aeration, in a soil texture-dependent manner, while consistently enhancing the immobilization of heavy metals. Temporal increases in whole-plant dry matter yield and metal accumulation suggested that the plants were capable of metal hyperaccumulation. The results were discussed in terms of the mobility of metals and plant growth and corroborated by the $^{15}N$ recovery of soil- and plant-N pools under H and HS treatments. Therefore, for effective phytoremediation of polluted soils, an appropriate combination of plant growth promoters (APS) and chelating agents (HA) should be predetermined at the site where chemical stabilization of pollutants is desired.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 2015

X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analysis using X-ray absorption spectroscopy is being applied as a state-of-the-art method in a wide range of disciplines. This review article summarizes the overall procedure of XAFS analysis from the preparation of soil samples to the analysis of data in X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) region and extended Xray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) region. The previous studies on application of XANES and EXAFS techniques in environmental soil science field are discussed and classified them according to metal(loid)s (As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn). A significant number of previous studies of XAFS application in the environmental soil science field have focused on the identification of Pb chemical species in soil. Moreover, XANES and EXAFS techniques have been widely used to investigate the contamination source via identification of metal species. Similarly, these techniques were applied to identify the mechanisms of metal stabilization in soil after application of various amendments, phytoremediation, etc.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.345-348
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• 2015

An organic solvent stable lipase from solvent-tolerant Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 171 had an optimal pH of 8 and an optimal temperature of 37℃. This crude extracellular lipase from BCNU 171 exhibited increased stability in the presence of various types of solvents at high concentrations (25%, v/v). The lipase stability was found to be highest in the presence of xylene (137%), followed by toluene (131%), octane (130%), and butanol (104%). Overall, BCNU 171 lipase tended to be more stable than immobilized commercial lipase (Novozyme435) in the presence of organic solvents. Furthermore, BCNU 171 lipase maintained about 90% of its enzyme original activity in the presence of NH₄⁺, Na⁺, Ba²⁺, Hg²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Ca²⁺ion and significantly increased its enzyme activity in the presence of various emulsifying agents. Thus, the organic solvent stable lipase from Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 171 could be usable as a potential whole cell biocatalyst and for synthetic applications of enzymes for industrial chemical processes in organic solvents without using immobilization.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2001

Alginate, a well-known biopolymer, is universally applied for immobilization of microbial cells. Biosorption characteristics of lead by waste biomass of immobilized A. niger beads, used in fermentation industries to produce citric acid, were studied. The immobilized A. niger beads, prepared via capillary extrusion method using calcium chloride, were applied in the removal of lead. Pb uptake was the highest in A. niger beads cells grown for 3 days with medium producing citric acid (12% sucrose, 0.5% $NH_4NO_3$, 0.1% $KH_2PO_4$, and 0.025% $MgSO_4$). Lead uptake by the immobilized A. niger beads and free A. niger mycellia beads increased sharply with time. However, while uptake by the immobilized A. niger beads continued to increase slowly, that by free A. niger mycellia beads stopped after 30 min. The optimum pH and temperature of lead uptake were found to be 6 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. The maximum uptake of lead was achieved with $50{\sim}100$ beads and 50 ml lead solution in a 250-ml Erlenmeyer flask, while, at over 100 beads, uptake of the lead decreased. The order of biosorption capacity for heavy metals was Pb>Cu>Cd. Pb uptake capacity of the immobilized A. niger beads treated with 0.1 M $CaCI_2$, 0.1 M NaOH, and 0.1 M KOH decreased compared to the untreated beads. On testing the desorption of Pb from the immobilized A. niger beads, re-uptake of Pb was found possible after desorption of the binding metal with 0.1 M HCI.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.164-171
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• 2014

A highly sensitive and selective non-enzymatic glucose sensor has gained great attention because of simple signal transformation, low-cost, easily handling, and confirming the blood glucose as the representative technology. Until now, glucose sensor has been developed by the immobilization of glucose oxidase (GOx) on the surface of electrodes. However although GOx is quite stable compared with other enzymes, the enzyme-based biosensors are still impacted by various environment factors such as temperature, pH value, humidity, and toxic chemicals. Non-enzymatic sensor for direct detecting glucose is an attractive alternative device to overcome the above drawbacks of enzymatic sensor. Many efforts have been tried for the development of non-enzymatic sensors using various transition metals (Pt, Au, Cu, Ni, etc.), metal alloys (Pt-Pb, Pt-Au, Ni-Pd, etc.), metal oxides, carbon nanotubes and graphene. In this paper, we show that Ni-based nano-particles (NiNPs) exhibit remarkably catalyzing capability for glucose originating from the redox couple of $Ni(OH)_2/NiOOH$ on the surface of ITO electrode in alkaline medium. But, these non-enzymatic sensors are nonselective toward oxidizable species such as ascorbic acid the physiological fluid. So, the anionic polymer was coated on NiNPs electrode preventing the interferences. The oxidation of glucose was highly catalyzed by NiNPs. The catalytically anodic currents were linearly increased in proportion to the glucose concentration over the 0~6.15 mM range at 650 mV versus Ag/AgCl.