• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.742-753
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• 2012

Copper-containing compounds are introduced into the environment through agricultural chemicals, mining, and metal industries and cause severe detrimental effects on ecosystems. Certain microorganisms exposed to these stressors exhibit molecular mechanisms to maintain intracellular copper homeostasis and avoid toxicity. We have previously reported that the soil bacterial isolate Achromobacter sp. AO22 is multi-heavy metal tolerant and exhibits a mer operon associated with a Tn21 type transposon. The present study reports that AO22 also hosts a unique cop locus encoding copper homeostasis determinants. The putative cop genes were amplified from the strain AO22 using degenerate primers based on reported cop and pco sequences, and a constructed 10,552 base pair contig (GenBank Accession No. GU929214). BLAST analyses of the sequence revealed a unique cop locus of 10 complete open reading frames, designated copSRABGOFCDK, with unusual separation of copCD from copAB. The promoter areas exhibit two putative cop boxes, and copRS appear to be transcribed divergently from other genes. The putative protein CopA may be a copper oxidase involved in export to the periplasm, CopB is likely extracytoplasmic, CopC may be periplasmic, CopD is cytoplasmic/inner membrane, CopF is a P-type ATPase, and CopG, CopO, and CopK are likely copper chaperones. CopA, B, C, and D exhibit several potential copper ligands and CopS and CopR exhibit features of two-component regulatory systems. Sequences flanking indicate the AO22 cop locus may be present within a genomic island. Achromobacter sp. strain AO22 is thus an ideal candidate for understanding copper homeostasis mechanisms and exploiting them for copper biosensor or biosorption systems.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2012

The midge samples were undertaken at three streams, representing different surrounding environments, to investigate the contaminant exposure of midge. The content of heavy metals in midge collected in Singil stream were generally higher as a result of input to the industrial effluents with respect to other streams. Adsorption experiments were done to evaluate the possibility of removing contaminants from water with midge. Diazinon and heavy metals were contaminant target compounds in this study. The removal rate of diazinon in water by midge was 60-75%. In the case of Cu, the removal rate was reached around 90% at the lower initial concentration of 1.87 and 0.81 ppm rather than 4.25 ppm. The reduction of concentration of Cr and Cd according to the lapse of time was similar to the Cu, but their removal rates were shown 50% and 60-74%, respectively. The removal rate of Zn by midge represented relatively high level within the experimental condition. No change in concentration of Cr and As with time were occurred at all experimental conditions. It accounts for the fact that the reduction of Cr and As could not be achieved through the adsorption process, using midge.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.261-264
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• 2005

In the current study, we examined the quality of surface water in ponds at two golf courses, located in southern (Country Club P) and eastern (Country Club B) areas of Korea respectively. Seasonal measurements were made of following physical parameters;pH, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, chloride, alkalinity, hardness, and nitrogen compounds [$NH_3$-N, $NO_2$-N, $NO_3$-N] and the concentrations of four heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) throughout the courses. The pH values were within the alkaline range (7.3 to 9.0), and the biological oxygen demand was generally between 0.5 and 3.1 mg/L. The alkalinity and hardness ranged from 19.1 to 68.5mg/L and 16.1 to 63.6 mg/L, respectively. Nitrogen as ammonium $(NH_3-N)$ was detected in all samples, and the samples had low concentrations of $NO_2-N$ and $NO_3-N$. Cd concentrations were relatively high (to 22.44 mg/L); the highest Cd concentration was observed in the pond in Country Club P. Other metal concentrations were low compared to the Quebec guidelines.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.255-260
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• 2010

A stabilization/solidification (S/S) process for lead (Pb) contaminated soils was evaluated using waste cow bone containing apatite like compounds. Soil samples obtained form firing range were treated with waste cow bone. The effectiveness of stabilization was evaluated based on the Korean Standard Leaching Test (KSLT) and soil pH. The leached concentration reduced with increased in dose of waste cow bone. Overall, the KSLT results showed that Pb concentration in soils are significantly affected by amount of waste cow bone. When soil amended with 20 % of waste cow bone, less than 0.1 mg/kg was leached, and soil pH was increased from 6.5 to 8.4. Same results were obtained when finer waste cow bone was applied. The reachable concentration of Pb in soil showed in inversely proportional to solid/liquid ratio. Aging periods indicate improving mix design was applied. Relatively high lead concentrations was observed at the first 1 days, however leaching profile are reduced significantly over time for all mix designs.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to estimate the shelf-life of Ssanghwa-tang by long-term storage test. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the stability such as the selected physicochemical, pH, identification, heavy metal, microbiological experiment under a long-term storage test of Ssanghwa-tang. The significant change was not showed in pH, heavy metal, microbiological, identification test and quantitative analysis based on long-term storage test. The contents of albiflorin, paeoniflorin, cinnamic acid, liquiritin, and glycyrrhizin in long-term storage test were 66.8-93.1 ${\mu}g/mL$, 429.0-495.0 ${\mu}g/mL$, 3.8-4.4 ${\mu}g/mL$, 32.0-38.1 ${\mu}g/mL$, and 66.8-71.7 ${\mu}g/mL$, respectively. Shelf-lifes by 5 compounds about 3 lots at room temperature were predicted 21-37, 14-21, and 16-72 months, respectively. The suggested shelf-life would be helpful on the storage and distribution of herbal medicine.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.393-399
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• 2011

The electrochemical or optical sensors for environmental pollutants are developed over the past several years. Nowadays, the development of colorimetric sensing is particularly challenging since it requires no equipment at all as color changes can be detected by the naked eye. Visual detection can give immediate qualitative information and is becoming increasingly appreciated in terms of quantitative analysis. In addition, simple colorimetric-sensor have shown useful in the detection, identification, and quantification of volatile organic compounds(VOC) in gas phase or heavy metal ion in aqueous phase. In this review, we investigated the wide applications and some drawbacks of colorimetric-sensors. And thus, we try to suggest the methodologies of development approach of multi-functional and reversible colorimetric-sensor.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.4 s.55
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• pp.357-363
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• 2006

Chromium compounds are widely used in diverse industries including pigment manufacturing, painting, metal plating and leather tanning. With the wide uses of chromium, various adverse effects of the compounds on the environment and human health have been reported. Among them, hexavalent chromium [Cr (VI)], which is a carcinogenic heavy metal, has been widely studies. Epidemiological investigations have shown that respiratory cancers had been found in workers who had been occupationally exposed to Cr (VI). In this study, cell toxicity and induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by Cr (VI) (1, 2, 4, $8{\mu}M$) in cultured human bronchial epithelial cells were investigated. Exposure of the cells to Cr (VI) led to cell death, ROS increase, and cytosolic caspase-3 activation. The ROS increase was related with the decreased level of GSH. Chromatin condensation and fragmentation were occurred by Cr (VI) when evaluated by DAPI staining or agarose gel electrophoresis of the extracted DNA. Expression of ROS related genes including glutathione S-transferase, heme oxygenase-1, metallothionein were significantly induced in Cr (VI) treated cells. This result suggests the toxicity in cultured cells by Cr (VI) was expressed through the apoptotic process with ROS induction.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.56-62
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• 2005

Chemical analyses are generally used to assess contaminated soils and to monitor the efficiency of soil remediation. In this study, the ecotoxicological methods was suggested to evaluate soil pollution by using a battery of bioassay. Plant assay and earthworm assay were conducted to evaluate ecotoxicity o soils contaminated by heavy metals (cadmium and copper) and oil (BTEX compounds, toluene). Test plants were Zea may, Triticum aestivum, Cucumis sativus, and Sorghum bicolor. The presence of heavy metals decreased the seedling growth. Cucumis sativus and Sorghum bicolor seemed to be good indicator plants which are sensitive to heavy metal pollution as well as BTEX contamination. An earthworm bioassay was performed to predict the ecotoxicity in toluene-contaminated soils, based on a simple contact method. Perionyx excavatus was adopted as a test earthworm species, and the severity of response increased with increasing toluene concentration. The present study demonstrated that ecotoxicological methods could be a quantitative approach to evaluate contaminated soils.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.33-38
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• 2017

Waste can be utilized as secondary or alternative fuel. Solid recovered fuel (SRF) and dried sewage sludge were combusted to investigate heavy metal emissions from their combusiton in this study. Content of copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) of coal, SRF and dried sewage sludge were determined, respectively. Concentrations of these heavy metals in the combustion flue gas were also determined. As a result, emissions of gas-phase Cu, Cr, Cd, Ni, Zn, Pb and As compounds were found to be little. However, a significant amount of gas-phase Hg was emitted from combustion of coal, SRF and dried sewage sludge. While SRF showed a high mercury oxidation percentage in its combustion flue gas, dried sewage sludge showed a high level of gaseous mercury emission.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.166-176
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• 2022

Banana peels are also widely used as bio-adsorbent in the removal of chemicals contaminants and heavy metals from water and soil. GC-MS plays an essential role in the phytochemical analysis and chemo taxonomic studies of medicinal plants containing biologically active components. Intrinsically, with the use of the flame ionization detector and the electron capture detector which have very high sensitivities, Gas chromatography can quantitatively determine materials present at very low concentrations and most important application is in pollution studies. In the present study banana peels were used as bio-adsorbent to remediate the heavy metal contaminated water taken from three different stations located around the industrial belts of Ranipet, Tamilnadu, India. The AAS analysis of the samples shows a decrement of chromium concentration of 98.93%, 96.16% and 96.5% in Station 1, 2 and 3 respectively which proves the efficiency of the powdered peels of Musa paradisiaca. The GC-MS analysis of the control and treated peels of Musa paradisiaca reveals the presence of phytochemicals like Acetic Acid, 1-Methylethyl Ester, DL-Glyceraldehyde Dimer, N-Hexadecanoic Acid, 3-Decyn-2-Ol, 26-Hydroxy, Cholesterol, Ergost-25-Ene-3,5,6,12-Tetrol, (3.Beta.,5.Alpha.,6.Beta.,12.Beta.)-, 1-Methylene-2b-Hydroxymethyl-3, and 3-Dimethyl-4b-(3-Methylbut-2-Enyl)-Cyclohexane in the control banana peels. The banana peels which were used for the treatment reveals the changes and alteration of the phytochemicals. It is concluded that the alteration in phytochemicals of the experimental banana peels were due to adsorption of chromium heavy metal from the sample.