• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1671-1679
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• 2024

Aspergillus flavus, the primary mold that causes food spoilage, poses significant health and economic problems worldwide. Eliminating A. flavus growth is essential to ensure the safety of agricultural products, and extracellular compounds (ECCs) produced by Bacillus spp. have been demonstrated to inhibit the growth of this pathogen. In this study, we aimed to identify microorganisms efficient at inhibiting A. flavus growth and degrading aflatoxin B₁. We isolated microorganisms from soil samples using a culture medium containing coumarin (CM medium) as the sole carbon source. Of the 498 isolates grown on CM medium, only 132 bacterial strains were capable of inhibiting A. flavus growth. Isolate 3BS12-4, identified as Bacillus siamensis, exhibited the highest antifungal activity with an inhibition ratio of 43.10%, and was therefore selected for further studies. The inhibition of A. flavus by isolate 3BS12-4 was predominantly attributed to ECCs, with a minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum fungicidal concentration of 0.512 g/ml. SEM analysis revealed that the ECCs disrupted the mycelium of A. flavus. The hydrolytic enzyme activity of the ECCs was assessed by protease, β-1,3-glucanase, and chitinase activity. Our results demonstrate a remarkable 96.11% aflatoxin B1 degradation mediated by ECCs produced by isolate 3BS12-4. Furthermore, treatment with these compounds resulted in a significant 97.93% inhibition of A. flavus growth on peanut seeds. These findings collectively present B. siamensis 3BS12-4 as a promising tool for developing environmentally friendly products to manage aflatoxin-producing fungi and contribute to the enhancement of agricultural product safety and food security.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.724-731
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• 1988

For a study on the production of ${\gamma}-linolenic$ acid(GLA) by microorganisms, fifteen strains of Mucorales obtained from culture stocks and ten isolate strains were compared in their cell growth, lipid content, fatty acid composition and pellet size formed in shake flask culture. Among the fungi examined, the isolated fungus, designated as FB-354, was found to be the most suitable one for the production of GLA mainly due to its high contents of lipid, 29.9% of dry cell weight and GLA, 16.8% of the total fatty acids. The strain FB-354 was tentatively identified as Mucor sp. on the basis of morphological characteristics. Fungal oil produced by Mucor sp. FB-354 was fractionated into 81.1% of neutral lipid, 7.2% of glycolipid, and 11.8% of phospholipid. Although the GLA content in the phospholipid fraction was as high as 21.4%, most of the GLA was found in the neutral lipid fraction.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2010

An endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium was isolated from forest soil samples collected at the Taebaek mountain of Gangwon province, Korea, and taxonomically characterized by physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic methods. Its 16S rRNA sequences showed the maximum similarity of 97% with B. amyloliquefaciens. In addition, the isolate BCNU 2002 was determined to have the ability to produce enzymes such as amylase, protease, gelatinase and catalase. The in vitro antifungal activity of Bacillus sp. BCNU 2002 was also examined against human pathogenic fungi such as Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Epidermophyton floccosum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Trichophyton rubrum. A maximum production level of antifungal substances of Bacillus sp. BCNU 2002 was achieved under aerobic incubation at $28^{\circ}C$ for 7 days in LB broth. BCNU 2002 showed strong antifungal activities against T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum with the range of percentage inhibition from 56.25 to 63.23%. It was also confirmed that ethylacetate extract of cultured broth showed a strong antifungal activity against A. niger, C. albicans, S. cerevisiae and T. rubrum by agar diffusion method. The peptide fraction also exhibited broad antifungal spectrum against various pathogenic fungi. The minimum inhibitory concentration values for active extracts ranged between 125 ${\mu}g$/mL and 1000 ${\mu}g$/mL.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1680-1687
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• 2020

Fungal endophytes are symbiotic microorganisms that are often found in asymptomatic plants. This study describes the genetic diversity of the fungal endophytes isolated from the roots of plants sampled from the west coast of Korea. Five halophytic plant species, Limonium tetragonum, Suaeda australis, Suaeda maritima, Suaeda glauca Bunge, and Phragmites australis, were collected from a salt marsh in Gochang and used to isolate and identify culturable, root-associated endophytic fungi. The fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 was used as the DNA barcode for the classification of these specimens. In total, 156 isolates of the fungal strains were identified and categorized into 23 genera and two phyla (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota), with Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes as the predominant classes. The genus Alternaria accounted for the largest number of strains, followed by Cladosporium and Fusarium. The highest diversity index was obtained from the endophytic fungal group associated with the plant P. australis. Waito-C rice seedlings were treated with the fungal culture filtrates to analyze their plant growth-promoting capacity. A bioassay of the Sm-3-7-5 fungal strain isolated from S. maritima confirmed that it had the highest plant growth-promoting capacity. Molecular identification of the Sm-3-7-5 strain revealed that it belongs to Alternaria alternata and is a producer of gibberellins. These findings provided a fundamental basis for understanding the symbiotic interactions between plants and fungi.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.165-171
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• 2013

To isolate a novel antifungal compound, we obtained 571 kinds of endolichenic fungi from Lichen Bioresources Center and examined their antifungal abilities. Four fungi Stereocaulon sp. (1429), Stereocaulon sp. (1430), Cryptosporiopsis sp. (0156), and Graphis sp. (1245) showed high antifungal activity against Candida albicans when they grew in both liquid and solid media. We extracted the culture supernatants of these fungi with chloroform and then ethyl acetate. The chloroform fraction exhibited the highest anti-fungal activities when those fractions were examined for the growth inhibition of Candida albicans with disc diffusion method. To see information for the inhibitor present in chloroform fraction we employed GC-MS for the fractions of Stereocaulon sp. (1429). We found that hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane, decanoic acid, hexadecanonic acid-methyl ester, 14-octadecenoic acid-methyl ester, and octadecenoic acid-methyl ester were present more in chloroform fraction than in ethylacetate fraction. This indicates that those compounds could be possible antifungal candidates since antifungal activity of chloroform extract was two times higher than that of ethyl acetate extract.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.727-734
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• 2013

The antifungal activity against cheese fungi by lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi was investigated. Eight fungi were isolated from cheese in the cheese ripening room. Two of them were identified as Penicillium and Cladosporium via ITS-5.8S rDNA analysis. Twenty-two species of lactic acid bacteria with antifungal activity were isolated from kimchi. Two of them were identified as Lactobacillus and Pediococcus via 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Of the 22 lactic acid bacteria species, six were selected (L. sakei subsp. ALJ011, L. sakei subsp. ALI033, L. sakei subsp. ALGy039, P. pentosaceus ALJ015, P. pentosaceus ALJ024 and P. pentosaceus ALJ026) due to their higher activity against the eight fungi isolated from cheese in the cheese ripening room; and among the six species, the P. pentosaceus ALJ015 and P. pentosaceus ALJ024 isolates from the Jeonju area kimchi and the L. sakei subsp. ALI033 isolate from the Iimsil area kimchi had higher antifungal activity than the other lactic acid bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of L. sakei subsp. ALI033 against the eight fungi isolated from cheese in the cheese ripening room was $62.5{\mu}g/mL$.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2012

Bacilli with fibrinolytic activities were isolated from traditionally-prepared Meju and some of these strains showed strong antifungal activities. One isolate, MJ1-4, showed the strongest antifungal activity. MJ1-4 and other isolates were identified as B. amyloliquefaciens strains by recA gene sequencing and RAPD-PCR results. B. amyloliqufaciens MJ1-4 efficiently inhibited an Aspergillus spp.-producing aflatoxin B1 ($AFB_1$) and a Penicillium spp.-producing ochratoxin (OTA) in addition to other fungi. Antifungal activity of B. amyloliquefaciens MJ1-4 culture reached its maximum (40 AU/mg protein) in LB or TSB medium around 48 hr at $37^{\circ}C$. Antifungal activity of the concentrated culture supernatant was not decreased significantly by protease treatments, implying that the antifungal substance might not be a simple peptide or protein. Considering its antifungal and fibrinolytic activities together, B. amyloliquefaciens MJ1-4 can serve as a starter for fermented soyfoods such as Cheonggukjang and Doenjang.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.322-328
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• 1993

During the screening of antifungal compounds from microbial secondary metabolites to control phytophthora blight of red pepper caused by Phytophthora capsici, a soil isolate, strain 38D10 was selected. Based on taxonomic studies, this strain was identified as Streptomyces neyagawaensis. The antifungal compound was purified from culture broth by HP-20 column chromatography, ethyl acetate extraction, silica gel column chromatography, HPLC and identified as concanamycin B by UV. $^1H$-NMR, $^{13}C$-NMR, SIMS analysis. Concanamycin B has strong antifungal activity against some phytopathogenic fungi but not antivacterial activity and preventive value were 50% and 100% at 125ppm and 250ppm in pot assay.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.27 no.5 s.92
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• pp.341-344
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• 1999

The genus Hypocrea, a member of the Hypocreales, has yellow to pale yellow-ochre, perithecial stromata and angular to cuboid ascospores. The isolate of Hypocrea microrufa collected on decayed tropical wood at Malaysia is compared with H. rufa and H. microsplendens. This isolation of H. microrufa will be the first record from tropical region and the first description with scanning electron microscopy. The ornamentation of ascospores used one of main taxonomic keys for identification.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.345-349
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• 1998

Fifty isolates of myxobacteria were isolated from soils from several areas in Korea during 1996-1997 and bioactivity against plant pathogenic fungi of these isolates was examined. A myxobacterial isolate KR025 showed good antifungal activities against Pyricularia oryzae, Cryphonectria parasitica, Colletotrichum lagenarium, and C. gloeosporioides but did not against Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Pythium ultimum. The bacterium was identified as Myxococcus fulvus based on morphological and physiological characteristics. Antifungal substances were extracted from culture broth and bacterial cell of Myxococcus fulvus KR025 by ethyl acetate. Antifungal substance of Myxothiazole (100 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$/ml) produced by Myxococcus fulvus KR 025 controlled 97.0% rice blast, tomato late blight, wheat leaf rust, and barley powdery mildew and showed 45.0 and 82.6% disease control of rice sheath blight and cucumber gray model, respectively.