• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 2003

A biofilter study was performed in order to remove mixed benzene and ethylene emitted from soil and groundwater remediation. In particular, more than 96% of ethylene was removed at residence times of 10～15 min, and the possibility of use of the biofilter was obtained. The benzene removal efficiency was achieved as much as 100% at residence times of 2～15 min. With a residence time of 15 min, the maximum elimination capacity of benzene and ethylene was 4.3 g/$\textrm{m}^3$hr and 1.4 g/$\textrm{m}^3$hr, respectively. The maximum elimination capacity of benzene was 3 times higher than that of ethylene. Carbon dioxide concentration decreased as residence times were lowered due to low ethylene degradation rate. The maximum carbon dioxide production rate of 3,169 [mg-$CO_2$/(g-${C_2}{H_4}$＋${C_6}{H_6$)] was investigated when benzene and ethylene were completely removed. It was found that dominant bacteria in the benzene-degrading microorganisms were identified as Bacillus mycoides and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Dominant bacteria in the ethylene-degrading microorganisms were identified as Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas fluorescens.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.347-352
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• 2005

The isolated microorganisms, Pseudomonas stutzeri, Raoultella planticola (Klebsiella), Serratia fonticola from petroleum contaminated soil were enriched on benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene as carbon and energy sources, respectively. And the degradation characteristics of BTEX was observed in the mixed BTEX substrates. We found that the BTEX in mixed substrates were degraded more than 50% by three isolated microorganisms. Among three isolated microorganisms, the highest degradation rate was observed in Pseudomonas stutzeri, but the degradation rate was different according to microorganisms. In order to increase the degradation efficiency, we applied the co-culture of isolated three microorganisms. The mixture rate of pseudomonas stutzeri : Raoultella planticola (Klebsiella) : Serratia fonticola was follows ; 1:2:1, 1:1:2, and 2:1:1, respectively. In two co-culture of 1:2:1 and 1:1:2, degradation rate was lower than isolated microorganisms. However, degradation rate became higher than isolated microorganisms and the degradation rate of benzene, toluene, and ethylene was more than 95% in co-culture of 2:1:1. The degradation rate increased through the co-culture of isolated microorganisms, however, the growth rate decreased. This was resulted from the substrate competition between microorganisms. The co-culture of microorganisms is a effective method to increase the degradation efficiency of BTEX and the co-culture mixing rate is a important factor for determination of degradation efficiency.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1819-1825
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• 2006

Four naphthalene-degrading bacteria (Pseudomonas sp. strains O1, W1, As1, and G1) were isolated feom pollutant-contaminated sites. Examination of their substrate utilization and analyses of key naphthalene-catabolic regulatory genes revealed that the pathway and regulation of naphthalene-degradation in all four strains resemble those of NAH7 from P. putida G7. Superoxide anion production, superoxide dismutase activity, and catalase activity during their growth on naphthalene-amended medium increased significantly, compared with those with glucose-amended medium. Addition of ascorbate, an antioxidant, or ferrous iron ($Fe^{2+}$) increased the growth rates of all tested microorganisms on naphthalene. Northern blot and HPLC analyses showed that both nahA gene expression and naphthalene degradation increased under those conditions. Our data suggest that naphthalene degradation can impose severe oxidative stress, and defenses against oxidative stress would play an important role in the metabolism of naphthalene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.330-337
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• 2018

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including naphthalene, are widely distributed in nature. Naphthalene has been regarded as a model PAH compound for investigating the mechanisms of bacterial PAH biodegradation. Pseudomonas sp. AS1 isolated from an arseniccontaminated site is capable of growing on various aromatic compounds such as naphthalene, salicylate, and catechol, but not on gentisate. The genome of strain AS1 consists of a 6,126,864 bp circular chromosome and the 81,841 bp circular plasmid pAS1. Pseudomonas sp. AS1 has multiple dioxygenases and related enzymes involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds, which might contribute to the metabolic versatility of this isolate. The pAS1 plasmid exhibits extremely high similarity in size and sequences to the well-known naphthalene-degrading plasmid pDTG1 in Pseudomonas putida strain NCIB 9816-4. Two gene clusters involved in the naphthalene degradation pathway were identified on pAS1. The expression of several nah genes on the plasmid was upregulated by more than 2-fold when naphthalene was used as a sole carbon source. Strains have been isolated at different times and places with different characteristics, but similar genes involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds have been identified on their plasmids, which suggests that the transmissibility of the plasmids might play an important role in the adaptation of the microorganisms to mineralize the compounds.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.109-121
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• 2020

Phenol is frequently present as the hazardous pollutant in petrochemical and pesticide industry wastewater. Because of its high toxicity and carcinogenic potential, a proper treatment is needed to reduce the hazards of phenol carrying effluent before being discharged into the environment. Phenol biodegradation with microbial consortium offers a very promising approach now a day's. This study focused on the formulation of phenol degrading bacterial consortium with three bacterial isolates. The bacterial strains Bacillus cereus strain VCRC B540, Bacillus cereus strain BRL02-43 and Oxalobacteraceae strain CC11D were isolated from detergent contaminated soil by soil enrichment technique and was identified by 16s rDNA sequence analysis. Individual cultures were degrade 100 μl phenol in 72 hrs. The formulated bacterial consortium was very effective in degrading 250 μl of phenol at a pH 7 with in 48 hrs. The study further focused on the analysis of the products of biodegradation with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT/IR) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS). The analysis showed the complete degradation of phenol and the production of Benzene di-carboxylic acid mono (2-ethylhexyl) ester and Ethane 1,2- Diethoxy- as metabolic intermediates. Biodegradation with the aid of microorganisms is a potential approach in terms of cost-effectiveness and elimination of secondary pollutions. The present study established the efficiency of bacterial consortium to degrade phenol. Optimization of biodegradation conditions and construction of a bioreactor can be further exploited for large scale industrial applications.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.278-288
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• 2019

In the present investigation, we attempted to design a protocol to develop a hybrid protein with better bioremediation capacity. Using in silico approaches, a Hybrid Open Reading Frame (Hybrid ORF) is developed targeting the genes of microorganisms known for degradation of organophosphates. Out of 21 genes identified through BLAST search, 8 structurally similar genes (opdA, opd, opaA, pte RO, pdeA, parC, mpd and phnE) involved in biodegradation were screened. Gene conservational analysis categorizes these organophosphates degrading 8 genes into 4 super families i.e., Metallo-dependent hydrolases, Lactamase B, MPP and TM_PBP2 superfamily. Hybrid protein structure was modeled using multi-template homology modeling (3S07_A; 99%, 1P9E_A; 98%, 2ZO9_B; 33%, 2DXL_A; 33%) by $Schr{\ddot{o}}dinger$ software suit version 10.4.018. Structural verification of protein models was done using Ramachandran plot, it was showing 96.0% residue in the favored region, which was verified using RAMPAGE. The phosphotriesterase protein was showing the highest structural similarity with hybrid protein having raw score 984. The 5 binding sites of hybrid protein were identified through binding site prediction. The docking study shows that hybrid protein potentially interacts with 10 different organophosphates. The study results indicate that the hybrid protein designed has the capability of degrading a wide range of organophosphate compounds.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.233-239
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• 2004

Microbial activity of biofilm formed on the surface of gravels from intertidal zone was estimated using an aerobic respirometer system, and compared with that of suspended marine microorganisms contained in a near shore water. The maximum oxygen uptake rate of the suspended marine microorganisms was 0.15mg O$_2$／L／hr, indicating the potential of purification of polluted near shore water. For the gravels from the intertidal zone, the maximum uptake rate of oxygen was affected by the vertical positions, but their gross value was 0.77mg O$_2$／L／hr, which was around 5.1 times higher than the purification potential of polluted near shore water by the microorganisms contained in the near shore water. The nitrogen removed by the gravels from the intertidal zone and the marine microorganisms was about 1／20-1／39 times of the total consumption of oxygen, which was similar to that of the phosphate. The gravel intertidal zone contained lots of particulate organics, over than that in the near shore water, and this was confirmed from the large difference between total oxygen consumption and the removed soluble COD in the microbial activity test. This indicates that the gravel intertidal zone plays an important role in controlling the non-point source pollutants from land, as well as self-purification of polluted near shore water by trapping and degrading the particulate organics.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.155-159
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• 2004

Microbial activity of biofilm formed on the surface of gravels from intertidal zone was estimated using an aerobic respirometer system, and compared with that of suspended marine microorganisms contained in a near shore water, The maximum oxygen uptake rate of the suspended marine microorganisms was 0.15mg$O_2$/L/hr, indicating the potential of purification of polluted near shore water. For the gravels from the intertidal zone, the maximum uptake rate of oxygen was affected by the vertical positions, but their gross value was 0.77mg $O_2$/L/hr, which was around 5.1 times higher than the purification potential of polluted near shore water by the microorganisms contained in the near shore water. The nitrogen removed by the gravels from the intertidal zone and the marine microorganisms was about 1/20-1/39 times of the total consumption of oxygen, which was similar to that of the phosphate. The gravel intertidal zone contained lots of particulate organics, over than that in the near shore water, and this was confirmed from the large difference between total oxygen consumption and the removed soluble COD in the microbial activity test. This indicates that the gravel intertidal zone plays an important role in controlling the non-point source pollutants from land, as well as self-purification of polluted near shore water by trapping and degrading the particulate organics.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.259-268
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• 2023

Rhodococcus sp. 3-2 strain has been reported to degrade benzimidazole-based pesticides, such as benomyl and carbendazim. Therefore, this study aimed to optimize culture medium composition and culture conditions to achieve cost-effective and efficient large-scale production of the Rhodococcus sp. 3-2 strain. The study identified that the optimal media composition for mass culture comprised 0.5% glucose, 0.5% yeast extract, 0.15% NaCl, 0.5% K₂HPO₄, 0.5% sodium succinate, and 0.1% MgSO₄. Additionally, a microbial agent was developed using a 1.5-ton fermenter, with skim milk (20%), monosodium glutamate (15%), and vitamin C (2%) as key components. The storage stability of the microbial agent has been confirmed, with advantages of low temperature conservation, which helps to sustain efficacy for at least six months. We also assessed the benomyl degradation activity of the microbial agent within field soil. The results revealed an over 90% degradation rate when the concentration of viable cells exceeded 2.65 × 10⁶ CFU/g after a minimum of five weeks had elapsed. Based on these findings, Rhodococcus sp. 3-2 strain can be considered a cost-effective microbial agent with diverse agricultural applications.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.207-212
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• 1992

To develope the new strains of microorganisms having the degradative ability for various aromatic hydrocarbons. spheroplast cell fusions were performed with Arthrobacter spp. degrading phthalate ester and Pseudomonas putida degrading alkylbenzen sulfonate(ABS) and the characteristics of the fusants were investigated. The spheroplasts of P. putia KUD15 and Arthrobacter sp. were formed effectively by lysozyme-EDTA treatment and by Ampicillin-lysozyme-EDTA treatment. respectively. The Spheroplast formation frequency and the regeneration frequency of the strains were 98-99% and 5-8%, respectively. For cell fusion. 40% PEG6000 was used as a fusogenic agent and the formation frequencies of fusion product were $1.8{\times}10^{4}-$2.9{\times}10^{4}$ Most of the fusants, which were selected in complemented antibiotics media showed the degradative ability in minimal selective medium added phthalate ester or ABS as sole carbon source. ABS degradation by fusant strain was increased about 20% with compared with the parental strain, while the degradative ability of phthalate ester was simillilar to that of parental strain.