• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2020

The present study conducted mock-up tests under the simulated sewage environments to examine the practical significance and limitation of coating materials that were previously developed on the basis of the bacterial glycocalix as a protection of concrete structures exposed to microbiological and sulphate attacks. The variations of the compressive strength and mass of the concrete due to the sulphate attack were measured using cylinder specimens. The bacteria growth and glycocalix formulation were calculated from the samples extracted from the sewage pipes. The next generation sequencing analysis was also conducted for environmental damage assessment due to the use of Rhodobacter capsulatus in the simulated sewage environments. The mock-up tests revealed that the developed coating materials have a good potential in resisting the sulphate attack, indicating no reduction on compressive strength and mass of the coated concrete under the sewage environment. At the age of 91 days, the concentrations of viable bacteria and glycocalix measured from the hardened coating materials were 1.4×10⁴cell/mL and 67.5mg/㎤, respectively. Moreover, harmful strains were not observed in the sewage water including glycocalix-coated concrete pipes. This implies that Rhodobacter capsulatus used in the coating materials does not influence negatively the microorganism cluster in the sewage environments.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.163-169
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• 2017

Strains D4 and D5 were isolated from peach-rotten soil during the peach harvest season. The isolates were identified based on morphological and biochemical characterization, and identification was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results showed that D4 has high similarity to Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC $14917^T$ and Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC $8041^T$ at 99.05% and 98.98%, respectively. D5 was also similar to Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC $8041^T$ and Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC $14917^T$ at 98.71% and 98.64%, respectively. In contrast, isolates showed differences in carbohydrate utilization in comparison to Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC $14917^T$ and Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC $8041^T$. In view of this we performed VITEK MS matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis, multiplex PCR fingerprinting, and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR to further confirm the identification of D4 and D5. The results of these analyses showed that both strains were most similar to Lactobacillus plantarum.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 2015

Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency is the most common mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation disorder which is inherited as an autosomal recessive pattern. MCAD deficiency is caused by mutations in the ACADM gene; medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase gene (ACADM; OMIM 607008) on chromosome 1p31 which encodes MCAD, the mitochondrial enzyme which catalyzes the first reaction in beta-oxidation of fatty acids with medium-chain length. Here, we describe one Korean pediatric case of MCAD deficiency, which was diagnosed during newborn screening by tandem mass spectrometry and confirmed by molecular analysis. The level of hexanoyl (C6), octanoyl (C8), decenoyl (C10:1) carnitine, and C8/C2 ratio was elevated. Homogenous c.1189T>A (p.Tyr397Asn) mutation of ACADM gene was identified by direct sequencing. He has been asymptomatic and has shown normal growth and development by 25 months of age without any intervention. There was no episode of metabolic acidosis during follow-up period.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.438-446
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• 2007

The fermented soybean product, cheonggukjang, is favored by many people, partly due to its bio-functional ingredients. Since the fermentation process of cheonggukjang is mediated by enzymes, including proteases, produced by microbes, analysis of the proteome profile changes in cheonggukjang during fermentation would provide us with valuable information for fermentation optimization, as well as a better understanding of the formation mechanisms of the bio-functional substances. The soluble proteins from cheonggukjang were prepared by a phenol/chloroform extraction method, in order to remove interfering molecules for high resolution 2-D gel analysis. Proteomic analysis of the cheonggukjang different fermentation periods suggested that most of the soluble soy proteins were degraded into smaller forms within 20hr, and many microbial proteins, such as mucilage proteins, dominated the soluble protein fraction. The proteomic profile of cheonggukjang was very different from natto, in terms of the 2-D gel protein profile. Among the separated protein spots on the 2-D gels, 50 proteins from each gel were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS and PMF for protein identification. Due to database limitations with regard to soy proteins and microbial proteins, identification of the changed proteins during fermentation was restricted to 9 proteins for cheonggukjang and 15 for natto. From de novo sequencing of the proteins by a tandem MS/MS, as well as by database searches using BLASTP, a limited number of proteins were identified with low reliability. However, the 2-D gel analysis of proteins, including protein preparation methods, remains a valuable tool to analyze complex mixtures of proteins entirely. Also, for intensive mass spectrometric analysis, it is also advisable to focus on a few of the interestingly changed proteins in cheonggukjang.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.773-782
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• 2007

Different isolates of the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis produce multiple crystal (Cry) proteins toxic to a variety of insects, nematodes and protozoans. These insecticidal Cry toxins are known to be active against specific insect orders, being harmless to mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Due to these characteristics, genes encoding several Cry toxins have been engineered in order to be expressed by a variety of crop plants to control insectpests. The cotton boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis, and the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, are the major economically devastating pests of cotton crop in Brazil, causing severe losses, mainly due to their endophytic habit, which results in damages to the cotton boll and floral bud structures. A cry1Ia-type gene, designated cry1Ia12, was isolated and cloned from the Bt S811 strain. Nucleotide sequencing of the cry1Ia12 gene revealed an open reading frame of 2160 bp, encoding a protein of 719 amino acid residues in length, with a predicted molecular mass of 81 kDa. The amino acid sequence of Cry1Ia12 is 99% identical to the known Cry1Ia proteins and differs from them only in one or two amino acid residues positioned along the three domains involved in the insecticidal activity of the toxin. The recombinant Cry1Ia12 protein, corresponding to the cry1Ia12 gene expressed in Escherichia coli cells, showed moderate toxicity towards first instar larvae of both cotton boll weevil and fall armyworm. The highest concentration of the recombinant Cry1Ia12 tested to achieve the maximum toxicities against cotton boll weevil larvae and fall armyworm larvae were 230 ${\mu}g/mL$ and 5 ${\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The herein demonstrated insecticidal activity of the recombinant Cry1Ia12 toxin against cotton boll weevil and fall armyworm larvae opens promising perspectives for the genetic engineering of cotton crop resistant to both these devastating pests in Brazil.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2016

Xylanases sourced from different bacteria have significantly different enzymatic properties. Therefore, studying xylanases from different bacteria is important to their applications in different fields. A potential xylanase degradation gene in Massilia was recently discovered through genomic sequencing. However, its xylanase activity remains unexplored. This paper is the first to report a xylanase (XynRBM26) belonging to the glycosyl hydrolase family (GH10) from the genus Massilia. The gene encodes a 383-residue polypeptide (XynRBM26) with the highest identity of 62% with the endoxylanase from uncultured bacterium BLR13. The XynRBM26 expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 is a monomer with a molecular mass of 45.0 kDa. According to enzymatic characteristic analysis, pH 5.5 is the most appropriate for XynRBM26, which could maintain more than 90% activity between pH 5.0 and 8.0. Moreover, XynRBM26 is stable at 37℃ and could maintain at least 96% activity after being placed at 37℃ for 1 h. This paper is the first to report that GH10 xylanase in an animal gastrointestinal tract (GIT) has salt tolerance, which could maintain 86% activity in 5 M NaCl. Under the optimum conditions, K_m, V_max, and k_cat of XynRBM26 to beechwood xylan are 9.49 mg/ml, 65.79 μmol/min/mg, and 47.34 /sec, respectively. Considering that XynRBM26 comes from an animal GIT, this xylanase has potential application in feedstuff. Moreover, XynRBM26 is applicable to high-salt food and seafood processing, as well as other high-salt environmental biotechnological fields, because of its high catalytic activity in high-concentration NaCl.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.629-632
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• 1999

Constructed wetlands are being used for the removal of nutrients from livestock wastewater. However, natural vegetation typically used in constructed wetlands does not have marketable value. As an alternative, agronomic plants grown under flooded or saturated soil conditions that promote denitrification can be used. Studies on constructed wetlands for swine wastewater were conducted in wetland cells that contained either natural wetland plants or a combination of soybeans and rice for two years with the objective of maximum nitrogen reduction to minimize the amount of land required for terminal treatment. Three systems, of two 3.6 by 33.5 m wetland cells connected in series were used; two systems each contained a different combination of emergent wetland vegetation: rush/bulrush (system 1) and bur-reed/cattail (system 2). The third system contained soybean (Glycine max) in saturated-soil-culture (SSC) in the first cell, and flooded rice (Oryza sativa) in the second cell. Nitrogen (N) loading rates of 3 and $10kg\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$ were used in the first and second years, respectively. These loading rates were obtained by mixing swine lagoon liquid with fresh water before it was applied to the wetland. The nutrient removal efficiency was similar in the rush/bulrush, bur-reed/cattails and agronomic plant systems. Mean mass removal of N was 94 % at the loading rate of $3kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$ and decreased to 71% at the higher rate of $10kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$. The two years means for above-ground dry matter production for rush/bulrushes and bur-reed/cattails was l2 and $33Mg\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. Flooded rice yield was $4.5Mg\;ha^{-1}$ and soybean grown in saturation culture yielded $2.8Mg\;ha^{-1}$. Additionally, the performance of seven soybean cultivars using SSC in constructed wetlands with swine wastewater as the water source was evaluated for two years, The cultivar Young had the highest yield with 4.0 and $2.8Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in each year, This indicated that production of acceptable soybean yields in constructed wetlands seems feasible with SSC using swine lagoon liquid. Two microcosms studies were established to further investigate the management of constructed wetlands. In the first microcosm experiment, the effects of swine lagoon liquid on the growth of wetland plants at half (about 175 mg/l ammonia) and full strength (about 350 mg/l ammonia) was investigated. It was concluded that wetland plants can grow well in at least half strength lagoon liquid. In the second microcosm experiment, sequencing nitrification-wetland treatments was studied. When nitrified lagoon liquid was added in batch applications ($48kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$) to wetland microcosms the nitrogen removal rate was four to five times higher than when non-nitrified lagoon liquid was added. Wetland microcosms with plants were more effective than those with bare soil. These results suggest that vegetated wetlands with nitrification pretreatment are viable treatment systems for removal of large quantities of nitrogen from swine lagoon liquid.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.158-164
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• 2015

A total of 509 rice panicle samples were collected at harvest time from fields in 8 provinces from 2010 to 2014. One hundred five grains per sample were plated on potato dextrose agar and 6,658 Fusarium isolates were obtained; among them, 67 were identified as Fusarium armeniacum by sequencing the translation elongation factor $1{\alpha}$ ($EF-1{\alpha}$) and confirmed by their morphological and cultural characteristics. Considerable variation in conidial size, colony color and $EF-1{\alpha}$ sequences was observed among the fungal isolates. The ability of 24 F. armeniacum isolates to produce T-2 and HT-2 toxin in potato sucrose agar was determined using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Twenty one isolates produced T-2 and HT-2 toxin, resulting in varying toxin levels among the isolates. The results show that Korean isolates of F. armeniacum have diversity with respect to morphological, cultural, genetic, and toxigenic properties.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1459-1469
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• 2008

Using a rotating biological contactor modified with a sequencing bath reactor system (SBRBC) designed and operated to remove phosphate and nitrogen [58], the microbial community structure of the biofilm from the SBRBC system was characterized based on the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) constituents, electron microscopy, and molecular techniques. Protein and carbohydrate were identified as the major EPS constituents at three different biofilm thicknesses, where the amount of EPS and bacterial cell number were highest in the initial thickness of 0-100${\mu}m$. However, the percent of carbohydrate in the total amount of EPS decreased by about 11.23%, whereas the percent of protein increased by about 11.15% as the biofilm grew. Thus, an abundant quantity of EPS and cell mass, as well as a specific quality of EPS were apparently needed to attach to the substratum in the first step of the biofilm growth. A FISH analysis revealed that the dominant phylogenetic group was $\beta$- and $\gamma$-Proteobacteria, where a significant subclass of Proteobacteria for removing phosphate and/or nitrate was found within a biofilm thickness of 0-250${\mu}m$. In addition, 16S rDNA clone libraries revealed that Klebsiella sp. and Citrobacter sp. were most dominant within the initial biofilm thickness of 0-250${\mu}m$, whereas sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, such as Beggiatoa sp. and Thiothrix sp., were detected in a biofilm thickness over 250${\mu}m$. The results of the bacterial community structure analysis using molecular techniques agreed with the results of the morphological structure based on scanning electron microscopy. Therefore, the overall results indicated that coliform bacteria participated in the nitrate and phosphorus removal when using the SBRBC system. Moreover, the structure of the biofilm was also found to be related to the EPS constituents, as well as the nitrogen and phosphate removal efficiency. Consequently, since this is the first identification of the bacterial community and structure of the biofilm from an RBC simultaneously removing nitrogen and phosphate from domestic wastewater, and it is hoped that the present results may provide a foundation for understanding nitrate and phosphate removal by an RBC system.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.707-717
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• 2018

Leukocytes are reportedly the first line of the innate immune defense and essential for the control of common bacterial infections. Therefore, in this work, the antibacterial activity of crocodile leukocyte extract against Propionibacterium acnes was evaluated, and we also characterized the related activity of skin infection. The leukocyte extract showed the minimum inhibitory concentration to be $100{\mu}g/ml$ to P. acnes. SEM imaging demonstrated that the leukocyte extract adversely affected P. acnes cell permeability in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, the crocodile leukocyte extract could significantly reduce proinflammatory markers and decrease inflammatory signs in infected mouse ears. The crude leukocyte extract was further purified using FPLC and RP-HPLC. The resulting fraction F5 was indicated as the anti-acne peptide-containing fraction. The molecular mass of the peptide contained in F5 was calculated to be 4,790.5 Da. N-Terminal sequencing revealed the amino acid sequence as GPEPVPAIYQ, which displays similarities to immunoglobulin A and leucine-rich repeat neuronal protein. This is the first reported amino acid sequence of a crocodile leukocyte extract that possesses anti-acne activity. To attempt to use it in a prototype cosmetic, an anti-acne gel containing crude crocodile leukocyte extract was formulated, resulting in seven gel formulations (G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, G6, and G7). The formulations G5, G6, and G7 exhibited 2-fold higher anti-acne activity than G1-G4. Investigation of accelerating stability studies of anti-acne gel formulations G5, G6, and G7 demonstrated that a low storage temperature ($4^{\circ}C$) is suitable for maintaining the physical properties and biological activity of the anti-acne gel products.