• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.239-253
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• 1999

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of various kinds of composts on the change of soil chemical properties in upland soils. Field experiments were conducted in the loam and sandy loam soils. Various kinds of composts such as poultry manure compost(PMC), cow manure compost(CMC), human excrement sludge(HES), and food industrial sludge compost(FISC) were applied annually at rates of 0, 40, and $80Mg\;ha^{-1}$ to soils grown with soybean and maize plants for 4 years during 1994 to 1997. The results of this study were as follows : The continuous application of human excrement sludge decreased soil pH up to 4.4~5.0, while other compost treatments increased soil pH compared with control plot. The EC increased initially and showed their maximum values at 20days after compost application, and then decreased up to 40 days, thereafter kept a certain level. The available phosphorous accumulated at 0~20cm depth in loam soil, and 0~50cm in sandy loam soil. Annual accumulation rates were 17% higher in sandy loam soil than loam soil. The more compost application rates and times, the higher base saturation percentage increased in upland soils. Four year's application at a rate of $80Mg\;ha^{-1}$ per year increased the base saturation percentage to 87~91% compared with 45% at control plot in the loam soil. While in sandy loam soil only three year's application of same rate increased the base saturation percentage to 81~92% compared with 30.4% at control plot. The average annual increasing rate of base saturation percentage at the same application rates of composts were higher in sandy loam soil by 2.0~3.7 times than in loam soil. The application of compost increased the exchangeable Ca, Mg, and K contents of soils by 2, 2~3, and 3~5 times, respectively, compared with the control. The contents of exchangeable canons were high in surface soil. and decreased with increase of soil depths. In the case of heavy metal content, there were no difference at the application of PMC and CMC but Ni. Fe, Zn, Cu was increased a little when the HES applied, and Ni and Cr was increased application with FISC.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.225-231
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• 2005

The characteristics of cell growth and medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate (MCL-PHA) biosynthesis of Pseudomonas chlororaphis HS21 were investigated using plant oils as the carbon substrate. The organism was efficiently capable of utilizing plant oils, such as palm oil, corn oil, and sunflower oil, as the sole carbon source for growth and MCL-PHA production. When palm oil (5 g/L) was used as the carbon source, the cell growth and MCL-PHA accumulation of this organism occurred simultaneously, and a high dry cell weight (2.4 g/L) and MCL-PHA ($40.2\;mol{\%}$ of dry cell weight) was achieved after 30 hr of batch-fermentation. The repeating unit in the MCL-PHA produced from palm oil composed of 3-hydroxyhexanoate ($7.0\;mol{\%}$), 3-hydroxyoctanoate ($45.3\;mol{\%}$), 3-hydroxydecanoate ($39.0\;mol{\%}$), 3-hydroxydodecanoate ($6.8\;mol{\%}$), and 3-hydroxytetradecanoate ($1.9\;mol{\%}$), as determined by GC/MS. Even though glucose was a carbon substrate that support cell growth but not PHA production, the conversion rate of palm oil to PHA was significantly increased when glucose was fed as a cosubstrate, suggesting that bioconversion of some functionalized carbon substrates to related polymers in P chlororaphis HS21 could be enhanced by the co-feed of good carbon substrates for cell growth. In addition, the change of compositions of repeating units in MCL-PHAs synthesized from the plant oils was markedly affected by the supplementation of acrylic acid, an inhibitor of fatty acid ${\beta}-oxidation$. The addition of acrylic acid resulted in the increase of longer chain-length repeating units, such as 3-hydroxydodecanoate and 3-hydroxytetradecanoate, in the MCL-PHAs produced. Particularly, MCI-PHAs containing high amounts of unsaturated repeating units could be produced when sunflower oil and corn oil were used as the carbon substrate. These results suggested that the alteration of PHA synthesis pathway by acrylic acid addition can offer the opportunity to design new functional MCL-PHAs and other unusual polyesters that have unique physico-chemical properties.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.720-728
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• 2011

Garlic (Allium sativum) has been used as a source food as well as a traditional folk medicine ingredient since ancient times. Aged black garlic is a type of fermented garlic and is expected to have stronger anticancer and antioxidant activities than raw garlic. However, the mechanisms of their inhibitory effects on adipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis are poorly understood. In the present study, the effects and mechanisms of water extracts of raw garlic (WERG) and aged black garlic (WEABG) on adipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were investigated. Treatment with WEABG significantly suppressed terminal differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in a dose-dependent manner as confirmed by a decrease in lipid droplet number and lipid content through Oil Red O staining, however WERG had no such effect. In addition, WEABG reduced accumulation of cellular triglyceride, which is associated with a significant inhibition of key pro-adipogenic transcription factors including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\gamma}$ (PPAR${\gamma}$), cytidine-cytidine-adenosine-adenosine-thymidine (CCAAT)/enhancer binding proteins ${\alpha}$ (C/EBP${\alpha}$) and C/EBP${\beta}$. Taken together, these results provide important new insight that aged black garlic might inhibit adipogenesis by suppressing the pro-adipogenic transcription factors in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, and further studies will be needed to identify the active compounds that confer the anti-obesity activity of aged black garlic.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.93-116
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• 1974

A potent intracellular-lipid-producing yeast, Rhodotorula glutinis var. glutinis SW-17, was screened out from a variety of arable soils, compost heaps, and fodders, and two strains of excellent extracellular-lipid-producing yeasts, Rhodotorula glutinis var. glutinis SW-5 and Rhodotorula graminis SW-54, were screened out from the surface of many species of leaves. And then the intra- and extra-cellular lipid productions by those Rhodotorula yeasts were studied. The results were as follows: 1. During the shaking culture of 8 days at $24^{\circ}C$, both the intra- and extra-cellular lipid accumulation started almost at the stationary phase of growth, when the nitrogen source in the medium was a little more than half used up. The intracellular lipid production by Rhodotorula glutinis var. glutinis SW-17 reached 58.42% (w/w) of dried yeast, and the extracellular lipid production by Rhodotorula graminis SW-54 amounted to 2.62g per liter of the medium. 2. After the carbon and nitrogen sources in the medium were almost consumed, if the yeasts were shake-cultured further in a state of starvation, the yeast cells re-utilized the already produced intra- and extra-cellular lipids and the lipids completely disappeared in the medium in about 90 days. 3. The relative concentration of carbon and nitrogen sources in the media greatly influenced both the intra- and extra-cellular lipid production. When the nitrogen source in the medium was almost used up for the growth of yeast, and excess carbon sources were still available, the lipid production vigorously proceeded. As long as the nitrogen source concentration in the medium was high, the lipid production was greatly suppressed. 4. The optimum pH for both the intra- and extra-cellular lipid production by those yeasts was pH 5.0-6.0. 5. The fatty acid components of the intracellular lipid of Rhodotorula glutinis var. glutinis SW-17 were myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids. The largest components of the fatty acids were palmitic acid equivalent to 30-45% of the whole fatty acids and oleic acid equivalent to 35-50%. 6. The fatty acid components of the extracellular lipid of Rhodotorula glutinis var. glutinis SW-5 and Rhodotorula graminis SW-54 were myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, 3-D-hydroxypalmitic, and 3-D-hydroxystearic acids. The largest components of the fatty acids were 3-D-hydroxypalmitic acid equivalent to 22-25% of the acids and 3-D-hydroxystearic acid equivalent to 13-17%. 7. The polyol component of the intracellular lipids was only glycerol, whereas the polyols of extracellular lipids were glycerol, mannitol, xylitol and arabitol.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 2014

This study investigated anti-obesity and antioxidant effects of dietary non-fermented soybean crud residue (SCR) and fermented SCR by Monascus pilosus (FSCR) in high-fat induced-obese mice. SCR and FSCR were supplemented with high-fat diet at 2% (wt/wt) dose for 8 weeks. Both SCR and FSCR significantly lowered body weight, epididymal fat weight and weight gain rate compared to high-fat diet control (HC) group and FSCR group showed lowest weight gain rate. In addition, it was observed that serum and hepatic lipid profiles including triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol were significantly improved by supplementing SCR or FSCR. Furthermore, SCR and FSCR administration showed increase of glutathione content and decrease of hepatic lipid peroxide content, serum aminotransferase activity, and hepatic xanthine oxidase activity. On the other hand, activities of reactive oxygen species scavenging enzyme such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione S-transferase and glutathione peroxidase in two test groups were higher than those of HC. Lastly, in comparison with SCR, FSCR was more effective in restoring obesity-related biomarkers to normal level in high-diet induced obese mice. In conclusion, the present study indicates that FSCR could have not only anti-obese effects such as inhibition of abdominal fat accumulation, but also protective effects of cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis by decreasing serum and hepatic lipid contents. Furthermore, these results suggest that experimental diets in this study could alleviate hepatic damage caused by overproduction of reactive oxygen spices (ROS) due to obesity via inhibition of ROS generating activities and induction of ROS scavenging activities.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 2018

Soybean produces three major types of isoflavones, daidzein, genistein, and glycitein aglycones and their glucosides and malonylglucosides. It has been known that malonylated glucosides are rapidly converted to their corresponding aglycones due to the unstable thermolabile glucoside malonates; therefore, the analytical study of malonylated glucosides has been insufficient. In this study, we analyzed the malonylglucoside content in soybean seeds. Isoflavone analysis of three soybean cultivars revealed that 81.5~90.0% of the total isoflavones were malonylglucosides, whereas aglycones were rarely detected. Moreover, the total isoflavone content increased during a 5-day germination period where growth regulators and coumaric acid treatments tended to yield higher isoflavone content than the normal germination treatment, however the differences were not significant; notably, the isoflavone accumulation trend continued with additional germination days. The content of malonylglucoside was higher than that of other isoflavones, which was 83.7~86.6% of the total isoflavone content in seeds with a 3-day germination period. Furthermore, isoflavones were significantly accumulated in the hypocotyl of seedlings with a 5-day germination period. The content of isoflavone in the hypocotyl of the Pungsannamul-kong was 10,240 ug/g when treated with coumaric acid, which was considerably higher than that of other cultivars and treatments. Additionally, soybean seeds heated at $60^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour produced higher isoflavone content than non-heated soybean seeds. Our results show that it is possible to increase the isoflavone content in soybean seeds through various treatments.

• 한국환경농학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.273-282
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• 2009

The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) disease group are fatal neurodegenerative disorders affecting a wide range of hosts. The group includes kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie in sheep and goats and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. The exact nature of the infectious agent involved in the transmission of these diseases remains controversial. However, a central event in their pathogenesis is the accumulation in infected tissues of an abnormal form of a host-encoded protein, the prion protein (PrP). Whereas the normal cellular protein is fully sensitive to protease ($PrP^{sen}$), the disease-associated prion protein ($PrP^d$) is only partly degraded ($PrP^{res}$), its amino-terminal end being removed. BSE was first reported in the mid-80s in the UK. Ten years later, a new form of human prion disease, variant CJD (vCJD) developed in the wake of the BSE epidemic, and there is now strong scientific evidence that vCJD was initiated by the exposure of humans to BSE-infected tissues, thus indicating a zoonotic disease. However, the ban on the feeding of animal-derived proteins to ruminants, and the apparent lack of vertical transmission of BSE, have led to a decline in the incidence of the disease within cattle herd and therefore, an assumed decreased risk for human contacting vCJD. The origin of the original case(s) of BSE still remains an enigma even though three hypotheses have been raised. Hypotheses are i) sheep- or goat-derived scrapie-infected tissues included in meat and bone meal fed to cattle, ii) a previously undetected sporadic or genetic bovine TSE contaminating cattle feed or iii) originating from a human TSE through animal feed contaminated with human remains. A host cellular membrane protein ($PrP^C$), which is abundant in central nervous system tissue, appear to be conformationally altered in the diseased host into a prion protein ($PrP^{Sc}$). This $PrP^{Sc}$ is detergent insoluble and partially protease-resistant ($PrP^{res}$). The term $PrP^{res}$ is normally used to describe the protein detected after protease treatment, in techniques such as Western immunoblotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay using fresh/frozen tissue. Immunohistochemistry may performed with formalin-fixed tissues. Also, clinical signs of the BSE are one of the major diagnostic indicators. Recently, atypical forms (known as H- and L-type) of BSE have appeared in several European countries, Japan, Canada and the United States. An unusual case was also reported in a miniature zebu. The atypical BSE fall into two groups based on the relative molecular mass (Mm) of the unglycosylated $PrP^{res}$ band relative to that of classical BSE, one of the higher Mm (H-type) and the other lower (L-type). Both types have been detected worldwide as rare cases in older animals, at a low prevalence consistent with the possibility of sporadic forms of prion diseases in cattle. This raises the unwelcome possibility that vCJD could increase in the human population. Now, active surveillance program against BSE is going on in Korea. In regional veterinary service lab, ELISA is applied to screen the BSE in slaughter and confirmatory tests by Western immunoblotting and immunohistochemisty are carried out if there are positive or suspect in the screening test. Also, the ruminant feed ban is rigorously enforced. Removal of specified risk materials such as brain and spinal cord from cattle is mandatory process at slaughter to prevent the infected material from entering the human food chain.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.154-164
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• 2005

Saccharomyces cerevisiae KNU5377 is a thermotolerant strain, which can ferment ethanol from wasted papers and starch at 40$^{\circ}C$ with the almost same rate as at 30$^{\circ}C$. This strain showed alcohol fermentation ability to convert wasted papers 200 g (w/v) to ethanol 8.4% (v/v) at 40$^{\circ}C$, meaning that 8.4% ethanol is acceptable enough to ferment in the industrial economy. As well, all kinds of starch that are using in the industry were converted into ethanol at 40$^{\circ}C$ with the almost same rate as at 30$^{\circ}C$. Hyperthermic cell killing kinetics and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that exponentially growing cells of this yeast strain KNU5377 were more thermotolerant than those of S. cerevisiae ATCC24858 used as a control. This intrinsic thermotolernace did not result from the stability of entire cellular components but possibly from that of a particular target. Heat shock induced similar results in whole cell DSC profiles of both strains and the accumulation of trehalose in the cells of both strains, but the trehalose contents in the strain KNU5377 were 2.6 fold higher than that in the control strain. On the contrary to the trehalose level, the neutral trehalase activity in the KNU5377 cells was not changed after the heat shock. This result made a conclusion that though the trehalose may stabilize cellular components, the surplus of trehalose in KNU5377 strain was not essential for stabilization of whole cellular components. A constitutively thermotolerant yeast, S. cerevisiae KNU5377, was compared with a relatively thermosensitive control, S. cerevisiae ATCC24858, by assaying the fluidity and proton ATPase on the plasma membrane. Anisotropic values (r) of both strains were slightly increased by elevating the incubation temperatures from 25$^{\circ}C$ to 37$^{\circ}C$ when they were aerobically cultured for 12 hours in the YPD media, implying the membrane fluidity was decreased. While the temperature was elevated up to 40$^{\circ}C$, the fluidity was not changed in the KNU5377 cell, but rather increased in the control. This result implies that the plasma membrane of the KNU5377 cell can be characterized into the more stabilized state than control. Besides, heat shock decreased the fluidity in the control strain, but not in the KNU5377 strain. This means also there's a stabilization of the plasma membrane in the KNU5377 cell. Furthermore, the proton ATPase assay indicated the KNU5377 cell kept a relatively more stabilized glucose metabolism at high temperature than the control cell. Therefore, the results were concluded that the stabilization of plasma membrane and growth at high temperature for the KNU5377 cell. Genome wide transcription analysis showed that the heat shock responses were very complex and combinatory in the KNU5377 cell. Induced by the heat shock, a number of genes were related with the ubiquitin mediated proteolysis, metallothionein (prevent ROS production from copper), hsp27 (88-fold induced remarkably, preventing the protein aggregation and denaturation), oxidative stress response (to remove the hydrogen peroxide), and etc.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.416-431
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• 2000

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of various kinds of composts on the change of soil chemical properties in upland soils. Field experiments were conducted in the loam and sandy loam soils. Various kinds of composts such as poultry manure compost(PMC), cow manure compost(CMC), human excrement sludge(HES), and food industrial sludge compost(FISC) were applied annually at rates of 0, 40, and $80Mg\;ha^{-1}$ to soils grown with soybean and maize plants for 4 years during 1994 to 1997. The results of this study were as follows : The continuous application of human excrement sludge decreased soil pH up to 4.4~5.0, while other compost treatments increased soil pH compared with control plot. The EC increased initially and showed their maximum values at 20days after compost application, and then decreased up to 40 days, thereafter kept a certain level. The available phosphorous accumulated at 0~20cm depth in loam soil, and 0~50cm in sandy loam soil. Annual accumulation rates were 17% higher in sandy loam soil than loam soil. The more compost application rates and times, the higher base saturation percentage increased in upland soils. Four year's application at a rate of $80Mg\;ha^{-1}$ per year increased the base saturation percentage to 87~97% compared with 45% at control plot in the loam soil. While in sandy loam soil only three year's application of same rate increased the base saturation percentage to 81~92% compared with 30.4% at control plot. The average annual increasing rate of base saturation percentage at the same application rates of composts were higher in sandy loam soil by 2.0~3.7 times than in loam soil. The application of compost increased the exchangeable Ca, Mg, and K contents of soils by 2, 2~3, and 3~5 times, respectively, compared with the control. The contents of exchangeable cations were high in surface soil, and decreased with increase of soil depths. In the case of heavy metal content, there were no difference at the application of PMC and CMC but Ni, Fe, Zn, Cu was increased a little when the HES applied, and Ni and Cr was increased application with FISC.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.389-398
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• 2013

Platycodin D is a major constituent of triterpene saponins, which is found in the root of Platycodon grandiflorum, Platycodi Radix, which is widely used in traditional Oriental medicine for the treatment of many chronic inflammatory diseases. Several pharmacological effects of this compound have been reported recently, such as anti-inflammation, immunogenicity, anti-adipogenesis, lowered cholesterol, and anti-cancer activity. However, the mechanism by which this action occurs is poorly understood. In this study, we found that platycodin D greatly increased the potential of the anti-proliferative effect in various cancer cell lines. Our data revealed that platycodin D treatment resulted in a time- and concentration-response growth inhibition of U937 cells by inducing apoptosis, as evidenced by the formation of apoptotic bodies, chromatin condensation, and the accumulation of cells in the sub-G1 phase. Apoptosis induction of U937 cells by platycodin D correlated with an increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and caused the down-regulation of IAP family members. In addition, platycodin D treatment resulted in proteolytic activation of caspase-3, the concomitant degradation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases, and the collapse of the mitochondria membrane potential (${\Delta}{\Psi}_m$). However, the cytotoxic effects induced by platycodin D treatment were significantly inhibited by z-DEVD-fmk, a caspase-3 inhibitor, which demonstrated the important role that caspase-3 played in the observed cytotoxic effect. These findings suggest that platycodin D may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for use in the control of human leukemia U937 cells. These findings also provided important new insights into possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of platycodin D.