• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.164-172
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• 2012

In this study, samples were collected from Lake Soyang in Kangwon-do in order to isolate novel Flavobacterium sp. strains. Totally, 21 strains of Flavobacterium showing 97%~98% similarity in 16S rRNA were selected and thoroughly investigated individual characteristics and ecological differences. As results, we could categorize Flavobacterium isolated from Lake Soyang into four major node groups, where most of Flavobacterium belonged to single group. Next, fatty acid analyses were performed demonstrating similar pattern of the majority of fatty acids as either iso $C_{15:0}$ or summed feature 3 (comprised $C_{16:1}$ ${\omega}7c$ and/or $C_{16:1}$ ${\omega}6c$) of the other Flavobacterium. However, other phenotypic data were different from the other Flavobacterium sp. Group. Our data showed that genetically related species of Flavobacterium have been distributed in Lake Soyang. Those Flavobacterium strains were phenotypically different from previously reported genus of Flavobacterium species. Taken together, we speculated that isolated Flavobacterium strains from Lake Soyang might be ecologically important members to maintain ecosystem.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.15 no.1_2
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• pp.19-29
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• 2000

Acetanilide may be released into the environment through air and wastewater from its production and use sites as an intermediate in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and dyes. Acetanilide is biodegraded rapidly under aerobic conditions and decomposed by indirect photolysis in the presence of OH radicals. An estimated bioconcentration factor of 4.5 suggests that bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms is low. Ecotoxicological data on acetanilide exist on acute toxicity to fishes of 4 species only. According to the EUSES system, the lowest PNEC (Predicted no effect concentration) in fishes is 0.01 mg/1 and PEC (Predicted environmental concentration) for surface water on a regional scale is 9.1$\times$10$\^$－5/mg/l as the worst case. RCR (Risk characterization ratio) of acetanilide for surface water on a regional scale was estimated as 9.1$\times$10-3, which is safe enough for fishes, RCR on a local basis slightly exceeds the value 1 in water and sediment; that is, 1.3 and 1.6, respectively, which suggests the existence of ecotoxicological risk at the vicinity of the manufacturing site. For the refinement of environmental risk assessment on acetanilide, more data should be collected regarding prolonged fish toxicity, acute toxicity toward daphnia and algae. It is, therefore, recommended that acetanilide should be a candidate for further work to supplement the lacking data until it is proved to be safe in the ecotoxicological aspects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.36-36
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• 2017

Out of twenty common protein amino acids, there are many kinds of non protein amino acids (NPAAs) that exist as secondary metabolites and exert ecological functions in plants. Mimosine (Mim), one of those NPAAs derived from L. leucocephala acts as an iron chelator and reversely block mammalian cell cycle at G1/S phases. Cysteine (Cys) is decisive for protein and glutathione that acts as an indispensable sulfur grantor for methionine and many other sulfur-containing secondary products. Cys biosynthesis includes consecutive two steps using two enzymes-serine acetyl transferase (SAT) and O-acetylserine (thiol)lyase (OASTL) and appeared in plant cytosol, chloroplast, and mitochondria. In the first step, the acetylation of the ${\beta}$-hydroxyl of L-serine by acetyl-CoA in the existence of SAT and finally, OASTL triggers ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}$-elimination of acetate from OAS and bind $H_2S$ to catalyze the synthesis of Cys. Mimosine synthase, one of the isozymes of the OASTLs, is able to synthesize Mim with 3-hydroxy-4-pyridone (3H4P) instead of $H_2S$ for Cys in the last step. Thus, the aim of this study was to clone and characterize the cytosolic (Cy) OASTL gene from L. leucocephala, express the recombinant OASTL in Escherichia coli, purify it, do enzyme kinetic analysis, perform docking dynamics simulation analysis between the receptor and the ligands and compare its performance between Cys and Mim synthesis. Cy-OASTL was obtained through both directional degenerate primers corresponding to conserved amino acid region among plant Cys synthase family and the purified protein was 34.3KDa. After cleaving the GST-tag, Cy-OASTL was observed to form mimosine with 3H4P and OAS. The optimum Cys and Mim reaction pH and temperature were 7.5 and $40^{\circ}C$, and 8.0 and $35^{\circ}C$ respectively. Michaelis constant (Km) values of OAS from Cys were higher than the OAS from Mim. Inter fragment interaction energy (IFIE) of substrate OAS-Cy-OASTL complex model showed that Lys, Thr81, Thr77 and Gln150 demonstrated higher attraction force for Cys but 3H4P-mimosine synthase-OAS intermediate complex showed that Gly230, Tyr227, Ala231, Gly228 and Gly232 might provide higher attraction energy for the Mim. It may be concluded that Cy-OASTL demonstrates a dual role in biosynthesis both Cys and Mim and extending the knowledge on the biochemical regulatory mechanism of mimosine and cysteine.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.442-457
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• 1995

The relationships of environmental factors to the distribution patterns of the three species of ophiuroids, Ophiura kinbergi, O. sarsi and ). sarsi vadicola from Yellow Sea southeast seas and East Sea of Korea were studied to characterize their habitual niches. These three species chosen for study illustrated distinct niche and patterns according to their various preferences mainly for bottom water temperature, bottom water salinity and depth from seven environmental variables which were depth, bottom water temperature and salinity, density, bottom water oxygen content, grain size of the surface sediment, and sediment sorting coefficient. The results of habitat niche study mainly dealing with O. sarsi vadicola suggested that the optimum habitat rages were approximately 6$^{\circ}C$∼10$^{\circ}C$ in bottom temperature and 31%∼33.5% in bottom water salinity which also corresponded with the characteristic ranges of Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water and higher probabilities of occurrence (more than 70%) were found in depth ranging from 100 to 200 m. In addition, the habitats of O. kinbergi and O. sarsi were compared with that of O. sarsi vadicola. Their ranges of habitat niches were found to have different niches in physical space of bottom water temperature, bottom water salinity and depth. Based on the distribution pattern of O. sarsi vadicola in the Yellow Sea, the ecological barrier which confined the distribution of benthic macro-invertebrates in southern Yellow Sea was determined to be the Yellow Sea Warm Current (approximately 34% < and 18$^{\circ}C$ in December) which occurs between 33$^{\circ}$ and 34$^{\circ}$N of southern Yellow Sea in winter time.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.235-240
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• 1999

Characterization of water quality was performed from March 1993 to March 1998, on the purpose of clarifying the relationships between water quality and land use types. The study sites were two reservoir basins; Kaesim and Jangchan in Iwon-myon, Okchon-gun, Chungcho'ngbukdo Province. The two basins were characterized by cultivated area (Kaesim reservoir) and mountain area (Jangchan reservoir), and divided into eleven small basins, where dynamics of pollutants, and the relationship between water quality and land use types were investigated. BOD, SS and TKN became lower and lower from up-stream to down-stream, except for the small basin G where self-purification limit was exceeded. And water quality of Jangchan reservoir basin was worse because of fish nursery. Area below altitude 200m occupied 56% in Kaesim and 44% in Jangchan reservoir basins. Especially total phosphorous (Y/sub T-P/=0.2023X＋0.0991, r=0.54) and total nitrogen increased in small basins where the proportion of cultivated and residential area was higher. The analysis of influences of pollutant discharge on water quality showed that pollution charge was very high in cultivated areas. The concentrations of pollutants were attenuated flowing into watersheds through physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological processes. The pollution level of mountain area was lower than that of cultivated areas.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.537-545
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to investigate potential usage of environmentally friendly building materials, liquid mortar and dry cement mortar mixed with charcoal, based on the test of their physical and chemical properties. From the test results of physical and chemical properties of the liquid mortar mixed with charcoal, liquid mortar containing over 20% of charcoal, the consistency viscosity and the non-volatile content met a standard requirement. Drying time was delayed with increase in charcoal contents in the liquid mortar, however they were fully cured within 60 minutes in all treated levels. Other properties were acceptable at standard requirement. From the results, it was found that the proper charcoal addition level to the liquid mortar was 25%. In the results on dry cement, it was found that samples containing 5% of charcoal showed the maximum compressive strength, whereas samples containing over 20% of charcoal did not reach the minimum requirement of KS standard. Water retention ability constantly increased as the charcoal ratio increased. The conventional dry cement mortar adsorbed 59.5% of it, in the test of adsorption rate on ammonia gas, whereas cement mortar containing 10% of charcoal showed 71.6% of ammonia gas adsorption.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.242-247
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• 2019

Biological factors (e.g. microorganism activity) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) play essential roles for degradation and/or removal of organic matters. In this study, to understand the microbial functional roles in WWTP, we tried to isolate and characterize a bacterial strain from activated sludge sample. Strain S16 was isolated from the activated sludge of a municipal WWTP in Daejeon metropolitan city, the Republic of Korea. The cells were a Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, facultative anaerobe, and rod-shaped. Strain S16 grew at a temperature of $15{\sim}40^{\circ}C$ (optimum, $30^{\circ}C$), with 0~9.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 1.0~2.0%), and at pH 5.5~9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0~7.5). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain S16 was most closely related to the unique species Miniimonas arenae NBRC $106267^T$ (99.79%, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) of the genus Miniimonas. The cell wall contained alanine, glutamic acid, serine, and ornithine. Although the isolation source of the type strain NBRC $106267^T$ which considered as a marine microorganism is sea sand, that of strain S16 is terrestrial environment. It might raise an ecological question for habitat transition. Therefore, comparative genome analysis will be valuable investigation for shedding light on their potential metabolic traits and genomic streamlining.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.828-834
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• 2023

The cDNA that encodes transmembrane protein 258 (Tmem258) was cloned from Gryllus bimaculatus and named GbTmem258. This protein comprises 80 amino acids, has no N-glycosylation site, and contains five potential phosphorylation sites at two serines, two threonines, and one tyrosine. The predicted molecular mass of GbTmem258 is 9.06 kDa, and its theoretical isoelectric point is 5.5. The tertiary structure of GbTmem258 was predicted using the available secondary structure information, which suggests the presence of alpha helices (52.5%), random coils (22.5%), extended strands (16.25%), and beta turns (8.75%). Homology analysis revealed that GbTmem258 exhibits high similarity at the amino-acid level to Tmem258 found in other species. The effect of starvation and refeeding on GbTmem258 mRNA expression was also examined in this study. It was found that GbTmem258 mRNA expression in the hindgut progressively increased throughout the starvation period, peaking at almost 1.5 times the control level after six days of starvation. However, refeeding for one to two days after the six-day starvation period restored GbTmem258 mRNA expression to the control level. In fat body, GbTmem258 mRNA expression was almost 3-fold higher during starvation compared to the control level. Refeeding for one to two days after the six-day fast resulted in a decline in the expression to about a 2.5-fold increase over the control level. Throughout the starving and refeeding periods, no other tissues showed any discernible alterations in GbTmem258 mRNA expression.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.260-268
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• 2010

The lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27, LDH) isozymes in tissues from Channa argus were purified and characterized by biochemical, immunochemical and kinetic methods. The activity of LDH in skeletal muscle was the highest at 380.4 units and those in heart, eye and brain tissues were 13.4, 3,5 and 5.4 units, respectively. Citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7, CS) activity in heart tissue was the highest at 20.7 units. LDH/CS in skeletal muscle, heart, eye and brain tissues were 172.9, 0.6, 0.32 and 0.47. Protein concentration in skeletal muscle tissue was 14.7 mg/g and specific activities of LDH in skeletal muscle, heart, eye and brain tissues were 25.88, 0.79, 0.31 and 1.38 units/mg, respectively. Therefore, skeletal muscle tissue was anaerobic and heart tissue was aerobic. The LDH isozymes in tissues were identified by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoprecipitation and Western blot with antiserum against $A_4$, $B_4$, and eye-specific $C_4$. LDH $A_4$, $A_3B$, $A_2B_2$. $AB_3$ and $B_4$ isozymes were detected in every tissue, $C_4$, $AC_3$, $A_2C_2$ and $A_3C$ were detected in eye tissue, and $A_3C$ was found in brain tissue. LDH $A_4$, $A_3B$, $A_2B_2$, $AB_3$, $B_4$, eye-specific $C_4$ isozymes were purified by affinity chromatography and Preparative PAGE Cells. The LDH $A_4$ isozyme was purified in the fraction from elution with $NAD^+$ containing buffer of affinity chromatography. Eye-specific $C_4$ isozyme was eluted right after $A_4$, after which $B_4$ isozyme was eluted with plain buffer. As a result, one part of molecular structures in $A_4$, $B_4$ and eye-specific $C_4$ were similar, but were different from each other in $B_4$ and $C_4$. Therefore the subunit A may be conservative in evolution, and the evolution of subunit B seems to be faster than that of subunit A. The activity of LDH $A_4$, $A_2B_2$, $B_4$, and eye-specific $C_4$ isozymes remained at 39.98, 21.28, 19.67 and 16.87% as a result of the inhibition by 10 mM of pyruvate, so the degree of inhibition was very high. The $Km^{PYR}$ values were 0.17, 0.27 and 0.133 mM in $A_4$, $B_4$ and eye-specific $C_4$ isozymes, respectively. The optimum pH of LDH $A_4$, $B_4$, eye-specific $C_4$, $A_2B_2$, $A_3B$, and $AB_3$ were pH 6.5, pH 8.5, pH 5.5, pH 6.0-6.5, pH 5.0 and pH 7.5. The $A_4$ and heterotetramer isozymes stabilized a broad range of pH. Especially, LDH activities in skeletal muscle tissue were high, resulting in a high degree of muscle activity.LDH metabolism in eye tissue seems to be converted faster from pyruvate to lactate by eye-specific $C_4$ isozyme as eye-specific $C_4$ have the highest affinity for pyruvate, and right after the conversion, oxidation of lactate was induced by $A_4$ isozyme. It was found that expression of Ldh-C, affinity to substrate and reaction time of $C_4$ isozyme were different according to the ecological environmental and feeding capturing patterns.