• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2022

A number of studies have been conducted to confirm the preventive effect of xylitol on dental caries as a whole or partial alternative to dietary sugars. This study reviewed the oral health effects of xylitol on the prevention mechanism of dental caries, the prevention of dental caries, the inhibition of mother-to-child transmission, and the oral health effects in the elderly based on existing studies on the oral health of xylitol. Carbohydrates and dietary sugars in food are fermented by acid-producing microorganisms in the mouth and produce dental plaque and acid, which cause dental caries. However, most dental decay-causing bacteria cannot produce acids by metabolizing xylitol. Xylitol, stored in cells as a non-metabolizable metabolite by Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), affects bacterial glucose metabolism and inhibits bacterial growth. Xylitol consumption also reduces the amount of plaque and the population of S. mutans in both plaque and saliva. In addition, xylitol acts in the remineralization process. Xylitol has been confirmed to effectively prevent dental caries, inhibit mother-to-child transmission of MS, prevent dental caries, and increase salivary flow in the elderly. In conclusion, xylitol is an adequate sugar substitute for dental health, from infants to the elderly. For future studies, the researchers recommend reviewing the effects of xylitol on the oral and intestinal microbial environment and the side effects of excessive intake.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.937-949
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• 2022

Health concern of dogs is the most important issue for pet owners. People who have companied the dogs long-term provide the utmost cares for their well-being and healthy life. Recently, it was revealed that the population and types of gut microbiota affect the metabolism and immunity of the host. However, there is little information on the gut microbiome of dogs. Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus; HE) is one of the well-known medicinal mushrooms and has multiple bioactive components including polyphenol, β-glucan, polysaccharides, ergothioneine, hericerin, erinacines, etc. Here we tested a pet food that contained H. erinaceus for improvement in the gut microbiota environment of aged dogs. A total of 18 dogs, each 11 years old, were utilized. For sixteen weeks, the dogs were fed with 0.4 g of H. erinaceus (HE-L), or 0.8 g (HE-H), or without H. erinaceus (CON) per body weight (kg) with daily diets (n = 6 per group). Taxonomic analysis was performed using metagenomics to investigate the difference in the gut microbiome. Resulting from principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) to confirm the distance difference between the groups, there was a significant difference between HE-H and CON due to weighted Unique fraction metric (Unifrac) distance (p = 0.047), but HE-L did not have a statistical difference compared to that of CON. Additionally, the result of Linear discriminate analysis of effect size (LEfSe) showed that phylum Bacteroidetes in HE-H and its order Bacteroidales increased, compared to that of CON, Additionally, phylum Firmicutes in HE-H, and its genera (Streptococcus, Tyzzerella) were reduced. Furthermore, at the family level, Campylobacteraceae and its genus Campylobacter in HE-H was decreased compared to that of CON. Summarily, our data demonstrated that the intake of H. erinaceus can regulate the gut microbial community in aged dogs, and an adequate supply of HE on pet diets would possibly improve immunity and anti-obesity on gut-microbiota in dogs.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.165-175
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• 2024

The Korean fir tree (Abies koreana), an endemic species of South Korea, is experiencing a severe decline in population due to climate change. Studies on the conservation of Korean fir have been extensive, yet research regarding its correlation with rhizosphere bacterial communities remains scarce, warranting further investigation. In this study, metagenome amplicon sequencing targeting the 16S rRNA V4 region was conducted to examine the presence of specific bacterial communities in Korean fir and to investigate potential differences based on habitat types (rhizosphere of native or cultivated trees, soil of dead trees, and bulk soil) and seasonal variations (April, June, September, November). Here we show that although we could not identify specific taxa highly specifically with Korean fir, the rhizosphere bacterial community in native trees exhibited less variability in response to seasonal changes compared to that in bulk soils. Suggesting the establishment of relatively stable bacterial populations around the Korean fir natural habitat. Further research on other types of rhizosphere and/or microbes is necessary to investigate the distinct relationship of Korean fir with microbial communities.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.1213-1224
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• 2024

Objective: Enterotypes (ETs) are the clustering of gut microbial community structures, which could serve as indicators of growth performance and carcass traits. However, ETs have been sparsely investigated in waterfowl. The objective of this study was to identify the ileal ETs and explore the correlation of the ETs with growth performance and carcass traits in Muscovy ducks. Methods: A total of 200 Muscovy ducks were randomly selected from a population of 5,000 ducks at 70-day old, weighed and slaughtered. The growth performance and carcass traits, including body weight, dressed weight and evidenced weight, dressed percentage, percentage of apparent yield, breast muscle weight, leg muscle weight, percentage of leg muscle and percentage of breast muscle, were determined. The contents of ileum were collected for the isolation of DNA and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The ETs were identified based on the 16S rRNA gene sequencing data and the correlation of the ETs with growth performance and carcass traits was performed by Spearman correlation analysis. Results: Three ETs (ET1, ET2, and ET3) were observed in the ileal microbiota of Muscovy ducks with significant differences in number of features and α-diversity among these ETs (p<0.05). Streptococcus, Candida Arthritis, and Bacteroidetes were the presentative genus in ET1 to ET3, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that Lactococcus and Bradyrhizobium were significantly correlated with percentage of eviscerated yield and leg muscle weight (p<0.05) while ETs were found to have a close association with percentage of eviscerated yield, leg muscle weight, and percentage of leg muscle in Muscovy ducks. However, the growth performance of ducks with different ETs did not show significant difference (p>0.05). Lactococcus were found to be significantly correlated with leg muscle weight, dressed weight, and percentage of eviscerated yield. Conclusion: Our findings revealed a substantial variation in carcass traits associated with ETs in Muscovy ducks. It is implied that ETs might have the potential to serve as a valuable biomarker for assessing duck carcass traits. It would provide novel insights into the interaction of gut microbiota with growth performance and carcass traits of ducks.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.11
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• pp.1829-1836
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• 2013

This study is carried out to investigate the physicochemical characteristics, microbial population, and sensory characteristics during fermentation of Korean traditional rice wine with addition of glutinous rice. The fed-batch fermentation of rice was performed by Nuruk and yeast for 10 days at $28^{\circ}C$ in a water bath. The four fermentation batches included 0, 10, 15 and 20% of glutinous rice based on the total rice contents. The growth of total viable cells, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and yeasts were similar among the four batches during the fermentation period. The population for total viable cells and LAB were increased for the first 3 days, and decreased slowly until 10 days. The number of yeast cells was rapidly decreased after day 6, when the alcohol content reached about 15% for all the fermentation batches. Physicochemical characteristics, such as pH, total acidity, and reducing sugars, were not different with the increase of additional glutinous rice contents. The ethanol production was higher in Korean traditional rice wine from non-glutinous rice (17.1%) than ones from glutinous rice (15.8~16.7%). For the sensory evaluations, Korean traditional rice wine with 15% glutinous rice was highly preferred due to the highest sweetness.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.673-680
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• 2009

This study was conducted to screen for plant food materials that improve human intestinal microflora, especially microorganisms associated with obesity. Among 30 tested plant food materials, the extract of Schizandra chinensis inactivated Eubacterium limosum, Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium spp. Additionally, S. chinensis extract was also found to have a growth-promoting effect on Bifidobacterium spp.. The antimicrobial activity and antioxidant activity of the water extract did not decrease in respond to heating. Additionally, the water extract of S. chinensis did not show a toxic effect on the growth of Caco-2 cells. In vivo feeding tests were performed to investigate the influence of extract on the intestinal microflora in rats. Although the extract did not reduce obesity induced by a high fat diet, it led to significant increase in the population of Bifidobacterium spp. and a decrease in the population of Clostridium spp. in rats. Taken together, these results indicate that S. chinensis could be useful as a functional food component to control intestinal microbial flora.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.536-542
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• 2007

Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder, involving several organs. Inflammation in the disease is thought to be mediated by cytokines derived from T-helper type 1 (Th1) lymphocytes. Although the exact pathogenesis for BD is not completely understood, it has been suggested that the disease is triggered in genetically susceptible individuals by environmental factors, such as microbial agents. It is noted that multiple genes, including MHC (major histocompatibility complex) and non-MHC genes, are implicated in the pathogenesis of BD. This study tries to determine whether HLA-B51, IL-18, SLC11A1 and TNF-α polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to Behcet's disease in Koreans. As a results, HLA-B51 was a genetic factor with the strongest association with BD. But it is still uncertain whether this HLA molecule is directly involved in the pathogenesis of BD. Although the IL-18 gene polymorphisms were not associated with a susceptibility to BD in the Korean population, the patients carrying the GG genotype at position 137 had a higher risk of developing the ocular lesions. This study suggests that the allele 3 and the genotype allele 3 / allele 3 of 5'-promoter (GT)n polymorphism in the SLC11A1 gene may have a protective effect for the development of BD in the Korean population. There were no evidences for genetic association conferred by the TNF-α gene with respect to susceptibility to BD.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2012

This experiment was carried out to investigate soil properties and the requirement of livestock manure compost in a large-scale environment-friendly agricultural complex (EFAC), Gosan, Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk. Total cultivation area of major crops was 2,353 ha. This complex area included different types of environment-friendly cropping sections (402.9ha) and livestock farming including 21,077 Korean beef cattle, 1,099 dairy cow, and 32,993 hog. Amount of livestock waste carried in to Resource Center for Crop and Livestock Farming (RCCLF) was 32 Mg per day and the production of manure compost was 9,600 Mg per year. The manure contained 1.4% total nitrogen (T-N), 2.7% phosphorus as $P_2O_5$, 2.1% potassium as $K_2O$, 0.9% magnesium as MgO, 2.5% calcium as CaO. Amount of compost used in the EFAC was 6,588 Mg per year. Soil pH values in the EFAC were varied as follows: 78.1% of paddy field soil, 58.2% of upland soil, 60.3% of orchard field soil, and 62.1% of greenhouse soil were in proper range. For the content of soil organic matter, 41.7% of paddy field soil, 46.5% of upland soil, 40.5% of orchard field soil, and 81.4% of greenhouse soil were higher than proper range. The content of available phosphorus was mostly higher than proper value on the different fields except upland soil. The contents of exchangeable $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $Mg^{2+}$ were also exceeded in the orchard field and greenhouse soils. In addition, microbial population, especially aerobic bacteria, in the EFAC was higher than that in regular farming land.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.341-348
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• 2010

To investigate the effect of continual pre-plant application of liquid pig manure (LPM) on malting barley growth, quality and soil environment in double cropping system of rice and malting barley, the liquid pig manure was applied after harvesting rice and malting barley for 3 years. Field experiment was designed with non-fertilizer, chemical fertilizer (CF) recommended by soil testing, rice (LPM 50%+CF 50%)+malting barley (CF 100%), rice (LPM 50%+CF 50%)+malting barley (LPM 50%+CF 50%), rice (LPM 100%)+malting barley (CF 100%) and rice (LPM 100%)+malting barley (LPM 100%). By continuous application of LPM 100%, the contents of available $P_2O_5$ and exchangeable K in the soil were increased. The available $P_2O_5$ increased from 243 to 350 mg $kg^{-1}$ and exchangeable K was changed 0.31 to 0.44 $cmol_{c}\;kg^{-1}$. However, the contents of available $P_2O_5$ and exchangeable K were not significant changes in rice (LPM 50%+CF 50%)+malting barley (LPM 50%+CF 50%) plot. Bulk density of soil was not affected by application of LPM. The microbial density was high in order of bacteria > actinomycetes > fungi. The population of aerobic bacteria in rice (LPM 100%)+malting barley (LPM 100%) plot was higher than other plots. The ratio of aerobic bacteria/fungi and biomass C content were the highest in rice (LPM 100%)+malting barley (LPM 100%) plot. The yield of malting barley was increased 22% by increasing culm length, panicle length, No. of panicle and 1,000 grains as 358 kg $10a^{-1}$ in rice (LPM 100%)+malting barley (LPM 100%) plot compared with 294 kg $10a^{-1}$ in rice (CF 100%)+malting barley (CF 100%) plot. The content of ${\beta}$-glucan was low by 4.5 and 4.4% in non-fertilizer and rice (CF 100%)+malting barley (CF 100%) plot, respectively. The content of crude protein was the lowest by 8.2% in non-fertilizer and rice (CF 100%)+malting barley (CF 100%) plot and the quality of malting barley was good as within 11%.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of probiotics supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal concentrations of Lactobacillus and Escherichia coli, emission of noxious gases from the feces, and circulating concentrations of the blood cells in early-finishing pigs. A total of sixty pigs [(Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire) ${\times}$ Duroc] (initial body weight 56.48 ${\pm}$ 1.66 kg) were used for the 28 days feeding trial. Dietary treatments included 1) CON (basal diet), 2) P1 (CON + 0.1% Agariemycetes) and 3) P2 (CON + 0.2% Agariemycetes). There were three dietary treatments with five replicate pens per treatment and four pigs per pen. There was no significant difference in ADG (average dairy gain) among the treatments (P>0.05). The gain/feed ratio was higher in P2 than CON (P<0.05). The P2 showed the highest digestibility of dry matter and energy (P<0.05). No significant difference was observed in the fecal Lactobacillus counts but fecal Escherichia coli population of P2 was lower than that of CON (P<0.05). The ammonia, $H_2S$ and total mercaptan was higher in P1 and P2 than CON (P<0.05). Blood characteristics were not affected by probiotics (P>0.05) supplementation. In conclusion, the results showed that dietary supplementation of probiotics at 0.2% level affected gain/feed ratio, dry matter and energy digestibility; reduced fecal Escherichia coli and emission of fecal noxious gases in finishing pigs.