• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1005-1012
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• 2022

This study was conducted to investigate the taxonomic composition and diversity of fecal microbiota between birth and weaning stages of Halla horses using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing analysis. Proteobacteria (35.7%) and Firmicutes (45.6%) were identified as the most common phylum in birth and weaning, respectively. Escherichia (19.7%) and Clostridium (14.0%) were observed as the most dominant genus in birth, and Fibrobacter (6.6%) was the highest in weaning. The results of α-diversity showed that the richness and evenness in microbial communities were statistically significant (p<0.001) in birth and weaning. The results of β-diversity indicated that the birth and weaning stages were clearly divided into two groups at the genus and species levels. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) showed that the microbiota composition differences between birth and weaning were statistically significant (q<0.001). A linear discriminant analysis effect (LEfSe) was performed to select taxonomic makers between the birth and weaning stages. On the genus level, Escherichia, Bacteroides, Clostridium, and Methylobacterium were relatively abundant at birth, whereas Fibrobacter was more abundant at weaning. We expect that this research can be utilized as basic data in the identification of microbial communities involved in disease prevention and nutrient absorption in Halla horses.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.325-333
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• 2023

This study compared and analyzed the microbial composition and physicochemical characteristics of kimchi (gimjang kimchi) and mukeunji (aged kimchi). Commercial kimchi and mukeunji products were purchased through an online market. After an analysis of physicochemical characteristics, the pH of the mukeunji samples was found to be lower and the acidity higher than in the kimchi samples. There was no significant difference in salinity between kimchi and mukeunji, but the sugar content was higher in the kimchi samples. The phylogenetic diversity index, which incorporates phylogenetic difference between species, was significantly higher in mukeunji than in the kimchi. The most dominant order in both groups was Lactobacillales, but several lactic acid bacteria, such as the Pediococcus and Lactobacillus species, which may be more acid tolerant or more competitive, are relatively predominant in mukeunji. Beta set-significance analysis based on two different distance metric results revealed that microbial distributions of population were different at the statistical confidence level (p<0.001). We investigated the effect of respective species on total microbial community using the LEfSe (linear discriminant analysis effect size) mechanism. According to the results of LEfSe testing, a relatively higher abundance of Weissella kandleri in kimchi and a higher abundance of Pediococcus inopinatus in mukeunji have the greatest influence on the differences in microbial structure between the two groups.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.425-435
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• 2023

Organoleptic parameters such as color, odor, and flavor influence consumer perception of drinking water quality. This study aims to evaluate the taste of the selected bottled and tap water samples using an electronic tongue (E-tongue) instead of a sensory test. Bottled and tap water's mineral components are related to the overall preference for water taste. Contrary to the sensory test, the potentiometric E-tongue method presented in this study distinguishes taste by measuring the mineral components in water, and the data obtained can be statistically analyzed. Eleven bottled water products from various brands and one tap water from I city in Korea were evaluated. The E-tongue data were statistically analyzed using multivariate statistical tools such as hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). The results show that the E-tongue method can clearly distinguish taste discrimination in drinking water differing in water quality based on the ion-related water quality parameters. The water quality parameters that affect taste discrimination were found to be total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca²⁺), magnesium (Mg²⁺), sulfate (SO₄^2-), chloride (Cl^-), potassium (K⁺) and pH. The distance calculation of HCA was used to quantify the differences between 12 different types of drinking water. The proposed E-tongue method is a practical tool to quantitatively evaluate the differences between samples in water quality items related to the ionic components. It can be helpful in quality control of drinking water.