• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.4 s.91
• /
• pp.254-261
• /
• 2006

In activity areas of subway workers and passengers in Seoul metropolitan subway lines 1-4, mein concentrations of airborne bacteria were relatively higher in workers' bedroom and station precinct whereas concentrations of particulate matters, $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$, were relatively higher in platform, inside train and driver's seat as compared with other activity areas. This result indicates that little correlation between airborne bacteria and particulate matters was found, which assumed that most airborne particulate matters distributed in subway consisted of mainly inorganic dust like a metal particles. Mean concentrations of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ in station precinct and platform exceeded the threshold limit value ($PM_{10}:150{\mu}g/m^3,\;PM_{2.5}:65{\mu}g/m^3$) but those in station office and ticket office were below it. The genera identified in all the activity areas of subway over 5% detection rate were Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Bacillus and Corynebacterium, of which Staphylococcus and Micrococcus covered over 50% of total airborne bacteria and were considered as predominant genera distributed in subway.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.45-53
• /
• 2006

Anaerobic black-pigmented bacteria have been implicated in the endodontic infections. This group of microorganisms includes Porphyromonas endodontalis, P. gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, and Prevotella nigrescens. The organisms display a wide variety of virulence factors that may be pertinent to acute endodontic infections. The aim of this study was to identify P. endodontalis, P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, and P. nigrescens by using the special potency disk test, filter paper spot test, 16S rRNA gene-directed PCR, and API 32A system. Microbial samples were collected from root canals of 33 intact teeth with necrotic pulp and apical periodontitis. Conventional laboratory methods were used to identify the strains of anaerobic black pigmented bacteria. Eighteen out of 33 samples were positive for the growth of black-pigmented bacrteria. Five colonies were cultured from each pure cultured colony from Brucella agar plates. Seventy seven colonies were positive for the growth of black-pigmented bacteria. Thirty three out of 77(42.8%) were identifed as P. nigrescens, 10 out of 77(13%)were P. gingivalis, 6 out of 77(7.8%) were P. endodontalis, 10 out of 77(13%) were P. intermedia. On the contrary the reference strains of P. nigrescens, experimental strains of P. nigrescens were susceptible to kanamycin in the special potency disk test. We concluded that after rapid presumptive identification methods, such as the special potency disk test and filter paper spot test were done, 16S rRNA gene PCR and API 32A test would be accurate detection methods for black-pigemented bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.8
• /
• pp.1141-1147
• /
• 2012

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a class of biodegradable plastics that have great potential applications in the near future. In this study, the micro-biodiversity and productivity of PHA-accumulating bacteria in activated sludge from a domestic wastewater treatment plant were investigated. A previously reported primer set and a self-designed primer set (phaCF1BO/phaCR2BO) were both used to amplify the PHA synthase (phaC) gene of isolated colonies. The new primers demonstrated higher sensitivity for phaC, and combining the PCR results of the two primer sets was able to widen the range of detected genera and raise the sensitivity to nearly 90%. Results showed that 85.3% of the identified bacteria were Gram-negative, with Ralstonia as the dominant genus, and 14.7% were Gram-positive. In addition, Zoogloea and Rhizobium contained the highest amounts of intracellular PHA. It is apparent that glucose was a better carbon source than pentone or tryptone for promoting PHA production in Micrococcus. Two different classes, class I and class II, of phaC were detected from alphaproteobacteria, betaproteobacteria, and gammaproteobacteria, indicating the wide diversity of PHA-accumulating bacteria in this particular sampling site. Simultaneous wastewater treatment and PHA production is promising by adopting the high PHA-accumulating bacteria isolated from activated sludge.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.213-218
• /
• 2001

The treatment of Patients with bacteraemia and septicemia requires accurate and rapid identification of the pathogen so that the physician can be guided regarding the selection of the proper antimicrobial therapy. The usual procedure is to withdraw an aliquot of the positive blood culture sample for gram staining and subculturing on the media for the growth and subsequent identification, and susceptibility determinations. It was noticed that during the process some microbiologists would sniff the effluent gases that are products of metabolism and in some cases guess the identity of the bacterium. That Prompted us to engage in systematic investigation of two gram positive and two gram negative bacteria using an electronic nose that had been proven successful in distinguishing the aroma of coffee beans from different sources. The investigation was successful in illustrating the efficacy of such a device in this clinical setting to distinguish Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. A representative set of patterns obtained with this apparatus is displayed as well. A representative set of patterns obtained with this apparatus is displayed as well. No effort was made to determine an optimal set of sensors for some specific set of bacterial metabolism gaseous products.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.55-59
• /
• 2013

TM7 is an uncultivated organism which is present in extremely diverse environments. Members of the Dialister genus are difficult to culture as a result of which many of these strains remain uncultivated. It has been suggested that TM7 and Dialister bacteria may belong to a group of suspected periodontal pathogens. In our current study, the presence of the sebacteria in Korean dental plaque samples was assessed using PCR detection methods with specific primers for 16S ribosomal RNA genes. The experimental group included 84 volunteers (35 males and 49 females). Plaque samples were collected from 4 non-adjacent proximal sites of the molar areas of the mandible in each subject and pooled. TM7 was detectable in 56% and the Dialister genus in 27.5% of the volunteers. Both TM7 and Dialister were present in 20.3% of volunteers. We found that 36.9% of the volunteers were negative for both bacteria. Further studies to evaluate the prevalence of these putative pathogenic bacteria in the Korean population are warranted.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.152-159
• /
• 2012

Campylobacter species are known to the high optimum growth temperature ($42^{\circ}C$) and the cause of enteritis in people. Erythromycin has a curative effect for enteritis caused by the bacteria. However, the rate of erythromycin-resistant bacteria was not well known until recently in Korea. Swine are one of sources of the infection with a Campylobacter species which cause the symptom of a high temperature. In this study, we cultured rectum fecal specimens of 100 pigs in an area of Buan-gun, Jeonbuk Province during July 2009. As a result, the detection rate of C. jejuni and C. coli and the rate of erythromycin-resistant bacteria for the separated Campylobacter species on the condition of high temperature were investigated. The possession or not of hipO and glyA gene and ciprofloxacin-resistant gene gyrA was also reviewed with biochemical characteristics and PCR.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.490-498
• /
• 2018

Panicle blight and seed rot disease caused mainly by Burkholderia glumae and Burkholderia gladioli is threatening rice cultivation worldwide. The bacteria have been reported as seed-borne pathogens from rice. Accurate detection of both pathogens on the seeds is very important for limiting the disease dissemination. Novel primer pairs targeting specific molecular markers were developed for the robust detection of B. glumae and B. gladioli. The designed primers were specific in detecting the target species with no apparent cross-reactions with other related Burkholderia species at the expected product size. Both primer pairs displayed a high degree of sensitivity for detection of B. glumae and B. gladioli separately in monoplex PCR or simultaneously in duplex PCR from both extracted gDNA and directly preheated bacterial cell suspensions. Limit of detection was as low as 0.1 ng of gDNA of both species and $3.86{\times}10^2cells$ for B. glumae and $5.85{\times}10^2cells$ for B. gladioli. On inoculated rice seeds, the designed primers could separately or simultaneously detect B. glumae and B. gladioli with a detection limit as low as $1.86{\times}10^3cells$ per rice seed for B. glumae and $1.04{\times}10^4cells$ per rice seed of B. gladioli. The novel primers maybe valuable as a more sensitive, specific, and robust tool for the efficient simultaneous detection of B. glumae and B. gladioli on rice seeds, which is important in combating rice panicle blight and seed rot by early detection and confirmation of the dissemination of pathogen-free rice seeds.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.491-496
• /
• 2001

A modification of decarboxylating agar medium as described by niven was performed to improve the detection method of biogenic amine-producing bacteria and to eliminate the false-positive. A total of 120 bacterial strains isolated from kimchi were used to evaluate different dicarboxylating agar media and for screening biogenic amines. Potential false-positives ranged from approximately 66 to 79% of the strains tested in the already well-known media. In our improved medium, none of the 120 strains showed the potential false-positives. There was a good agreement (81.7%-87.5%) between the results obtained by the improved medium and by HPLC analysis. Consequently, this medium was greatly improved in screening biogenic amine-producing bacteria and discarding false-positives. Of the 120 kimchi isolates, 14.2, 18.3, 37.5, and 0.8% were found by HPLC to be the producers of histamine, tyramine, putrescine (as a form of spermine), and cadaverine, respectively. The proportion of biogenic amine producer during kimchi fermentation increased to a maximum at an immature period and decreased thereafter.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.50-55
• /
• 2005

We investigated the contamination of animal hospital floor, beauty table, computer keyboard, exam table, operation table and forcep handle by isolations of aerobic bacteria in small animal hospitals in Gwangju. The total number of aerobic bacteria was 52 isolates and Staphylococcus spp. (38 isolates) were the predominant isolates (69.71 %) of them. The prevalent contaminated areas were floor (17 isolates), beauty table (13 isolates) and computer keyboard (9 isolates). The detection of methicillin-resistant (mecA) gene, determined by PCR, showed that 3 of the 17 coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. (CNS) isolates possessed the mecA gene. For evaluating the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the isolates, disk diffusion method was used. The majority of isolates showed high susceptibility to amoxicillin (92.1 %), ceftiofur (84.2%) and polymixin B (73.7%). Also they showed the high resistant to ampicilline (66.7%), penicillin (65%) and kanamycin (56.5%). These results suggest extensive contamination of aerobic bacteria in animal hospital environment.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.288-292
• /
• 2006

Through statistically designed experiments, lysis agents were optimized to effectively disrupt bacterial cells in a microfluidic device. Most surfactants caused the efficient lysis of Gram-positive microbes, but not of Gram-negative bacteria. A Plackett-Burman design was used to select the components that increase the efficiency of the lysis of the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli. Using this experimental design, both lysozyme and benzalkonium chloride were shown to significantly increase the cell lysis efficiency, and ATP was extracted in proportion to the lysis efficiency. Benzalkonium chloride affected the cell membrane physically, while lysozyme destroyed the cell wall, and the amount of ATP extracted increased through the synergistic interaction of these two components. The two-factor response-surface design method was used to determine the optimum concentrations of lysozyme and benzalkonium chloride, which were found to be 202 and 99 ppm, respectively. The lysis effect was further verified by microscopic observations in the microchannels. These results indicate that Gram-negative cells can be lysed efficiently in a microfluidic device, thereby allowing the rapid detection of bacterial cells using a bioluminescence-based assay of the released ATP.