• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.297-301
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• 2012

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is the major of bio-electrochemical system which can convert biomass spontaneously into electricity through the metabolic activity of the microorganisms. In this study, we used an activated sludge as a microbial inoculum and then investigated the feasibility of using dairy wastewater as a possible substrate for generating electricity in MFC. To examine the performance of MFC as power generator, the characteristics on cell potentials, power density, cyclic voltammetric analysis and sustainable power estimation were evaluated for dairy wastewater. The maximum power density of $40\;mW/m^2$was achieved when the dairy wastewater containing 2650 mg/L COD was used, leading to the removal of 88% of the COD. The results from this study demonstrate the feasibility of using MFC technology to generate electricity while simultaneously treating dairy wastewater effectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2001

Four newly isolated bacteria from soil were used to manufacture microbial inoculum to compost food waste. The bacteria, GM103, V25, V31, and V35, were identified as Bacillus licheniformis, B. subtilis, B. stearothermophilius, and B, subtilis, respectively. The bacterial strains were efficient to degrade protein and starch and also able to inhibit the growth of plant pathogenic fungus Rhizopus stronifer. The GM103 showed distinct capability in degrading starch, but grow only aerobically. The other three bacterial strains. V25, V31, and V35, could grow both aerobically as well as anaerobically, in 10%(w/v) salt, at $50^{\circ}C$, and had good viability and survival rate in soil. These characteristics of the bacterial strains are very adquate in Korean food composting containing high concentration of salt, especially at home. By mixing the 4 bacterial culture broth with molasses, beet pulp, zeolite, The bacterial inoculum for food waste composting-BIOTOP-CLEAN-was made. The performance of food waste composting by the BIOTOP-CLEAN was compared with that by control(not treated) and HS(other demestic company's inoculum product for food waste composting). The maximum temperature of the food waste during the composting with the BIOTOP-CLEAN was $50^{\circ}C$, while those of the control and HS were $30^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. The BIOTOP-CLEAN gave the good smell and showed dark brown color, while the control gave bad smell and HS gave less bad smell. These indicates that the food waste composting by the BIOTOP-CLEAN had been well accomplished. The culture broth of V25, V31, V35 were sparyed to the plants of tomato, chinese cabbage, raddish, red pepper every month and the spraying the culture broth to these plant significantly improved the production yield of the crops, due to the control effect of the bacterial strains against the plant pathogens.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.408-412
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Influence of oil concentration and inoculum size on petroleum biodegradation in soil by Nocardia sp. H17-1, isolated from oil-contaminated soil. To investigate the effect of initial oil concentration on total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) degradation, the soil was artificially contaminated with 10, 50 or 100 g of Arabian light oil per kg of soil, respectively. After 50 days, Nocardia sp. H17-1 degraded 78,94 and 53% of the each initial TPH concentration, respectively. Also, it produced 1.35, 4.21, and 5.91 mmol of $CO_2$ per g of soil, respectively. The degradation rate constant (k) of TPH was decreased in proportion to the initial oil concentrations while $CO_2$ production was increased with the concentration. The growth of Nocardia sp. H17-1 was remarkably inhibited when it was inoculated into soil containing 100 g of oil per kg of soil. To evaluate the effect of the inoculum size, the soil was artificially contaminated with 50 g of Arabian light oil per kg of soil, and inoculated with $3${\times}$10^{6}$ , $5${\times}$10^{7}$ , $2${\times}$10^{8}$ cells per g of soil, respectively. After 50 days, the degradation of TPH was remained with similar in all treatment but degradation rate constant (k) and evolved $CO_2$ was increased with increasing the inoculum size.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.313-320
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• 2014

Black liquor (BL) is a by-product of rice straw pulping process. It is a low costs raw material for production value-adding proteins and enzymes, which has been paid more and more attention to reduce its environmental pollution. Mixed cultures of micelial fungi, Trichoderma reesei Northern Regional Research Laboratory (NRRL)11236, Trichoderma reesei NRRL 6165 and Aspergillus niger strains NRC 5A, NRC 7A, and NRC 9A were evaluated for their ability to produce xylanase using crude hemicellulose (CHC) prepared from BL and peat moss as an inert support under solid state fermentation (SSF). The most potent strains, A. niger NRC 9A (818.26 U/g CHC) and T. reesei NRRL 6165 ($100.9{\pm}57.14$ U/g CHC), were used in a mixed culture to enhance xylanase production by co-culturing under SSF. In the mixed culture, xylanase production ($1070.52{\pm}12.57$ U/g CHC) was nearly1.3 and 10.6-fold increases over the activities attained in their monocultures, A. niger NRC 9A and T. reesei NRRL 6165, respectively. Optimization of the culture parameters of the mixed culture SSF process, concentration of ammonium sulfate and corn steep liquor, CHC/peat moss ratio, inoculum size and ratios of the two strains, initial pH value, initial moisture content and incubation time, exhibited a significant increase ($2414.98{\pm}84.02$ U/g CHC) in xylanase production than before optimization.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.776-782
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• 2019

Objective: Fasting may lead to changes in the microbiota and activity in the rumen. In the present study, the effects of fasting on rumen microbiota and the impact of fasting on in vitro rumen fermentation were evaluated using molecular culture-independent methods. Methods: Three ruminally cannulated Holstein steers were fed rice straw and concentrates. The ruminal fluids were obtained from the same steers 2 h after the morning feeding (control) and 24 h after fasting (fasting). The ruminal fluid was filtrated through four layers of muslin, collected for a culture-independent microbial analysis, and used to determine the in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics. Total DNA was extracted from both control and fasting ruminal fluids. The rumen microbiota was assessed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Microbial activity was evaluated in control and fasting steers at various intervals using in vitro batch culture with rice straw and concentrate at a ratio of 60:40. Results: Fasting for 24 h slightly affected the microbiota structure in the rumen as determined by DGGE. Additionally, several microorganisms, including Anaerovibrio lipolytica, Eubacterium ruminantium, Prevotella albensis, Prevotella ruminicola, and Ruminobacter amylophilus, decreased in number after fasting. In addition, using the ruminal fluid as the inoculum after 24 h of fasting, the fermentation characteristics differed from those obtained using non-fasted ruminal fluid. Compared with the control, the fasting showed higher total gas production, ammonia, and microbial protein production (p<0.05). No significant differences, however, was observed in pH and dry matter digestibility. Conclusion: When in vitro techniques are used to evaluate feed, the use of the ruminal fluid from fasted animals should be used with caution.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.593-598
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• 1995

The cultural conditions of Bullera singularis were optimized for the efficient production of galactooligosaccharide (GOS), Optimum temperature was 25$\circ$C, pH was 6.0, inoculum size was over 5% (v/v), initial lactose concentration was over 5% (w/v). The GOS production increased with microbial growth. Maximum amount of 72% (w/w) GOS was obtained from the optimized medium (5% lactose and 0.75% yeast extract) in 70 hours. Seven types of GOS (3 of dimer, 2 of trimer, 1 of tetramer, and 1 of pentamer) were identified by two-dimensional TLC. A new mechanism of GOS production is proposed based on the metabolism of carbon source.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2007

This aims to review natural products transformed by mimic intestinal metabolisms with microorganisms and hydrolytic enzymes, which exhibit enforced biological activity, higher extraction yield and identification of active components. In the process, transformation to the smaller active compounds with enzymes and microbes mimics the pharmacological action of natural products by intestinal bacteria. In order to establish conditions for the fermentation and enzyme reaction, it is required to choose several natural products for biotransformation and investigate the optimal conditions for the fermentation or the enzyme reaction such as composition, temperature, pH, inoculum, and cultivation time. It is expected an increase of the internal absorption of the active materials without regard to the intestinal microbes or its ability through biosynthesis of the active materials by the microbes and enzymes. And this techniques can be applied to biotransformation of natural products such as sesaminol, resveratrol, 1-deoxy nojirimycin, naringenin, quercetin, and baicalin and to the metabolism study using the animal model.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.447-451
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• 2022

Phytoestrogenic S-equol production in human gut exclusively depends on the biotransformation of daidzein to dihydrodaidzein (DHD). With a growing demand for the DHD enriched biomaterials, the commercial soybean hypocotyl extract (SHE) was chosen as a substrate for the microbial DHD production by human gut bacterium MRG-1, anaerobic DHD producer. To optimize the production of DHD, anaerobic fermentation conditions, including sterilization time, growth stage of inoculum, and growth media, were investigated. Maximum DHD production (1.2 g/L) was achieved after 48 h incubation when 1% (w/v) of SHE in the 20-min-sterilized Gifu Anaeboic Medium media was inoculated with OD₆₀₀ 0.3-0.4 of MRG-1. This is the first report that crude soy biomaterial, instead of pure compounds, such as daidzin and daidzein, is utilized for the production of the DHD enriched biomaterial.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.140-144
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• 2016

In this study, the physical factors for amylase production by Arthrobacter sp. were optimized using response surface methodology(RSM). Antarctic microorganism Arthrobacter sp. PAMC 27388 was obtained from the Polar and Alpine Microbial Collection(PAMC) at the Korea Polar Research Institute. This microorganism was confirmed for the excretion of amylase with Lugol's solution. The amylase activity was after flask culture was as low as 1.66 mU/L before optimization. The physical factors including the inoculum volume, the initial culture pH, and the medium volume were chosen to be optimized for the enhanced amylase production. The calculated results using RSM indicate that the optimal physical factors were 2.49 mL inoculum volume, 6.85 pH and 42.87 mL medium volume with a predicted amylase production of 2.84 mU/L. The experimentally obtained amylase activity was 2.50 mU/L, which was a 150% increase compared to the level before optimization.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.136-145
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• 2014

Background: This study aimed to develop a biocontrol system for ginseng root rot caused by Fusarium cf. incarnatum. Methods: In total, 392 bacteria isolated from ginseng roots and various soils were screened for their antifungal activity against the fungal pathogen, and a bacterial isolate (B2-5) was selected as a promising candidate for the biocontrol because of the strong antagonistic activity of the bacterial cell suspension and culture filtrate against pathogen. Results: The bacterial isolate B2-5 displayed an enhanced inhibitory activity against the pathogen mycelial growth with a temperature increase to $25^{\circ}C$, produced no pectinase (related to root rotting) an no critical rot symptoms at low [$10^6$ colony-forming units (CFU)/mL] and high ($10^8CFU/mL$) inoculum concentrations. In pot experiments, pretreatment with the bacterial isolate in the presumed optimal time for disease control reduced disease severity significantly with a higher control efficacy at an inoculum concentration of $10^6CFU/mL$ than at $10^8CFU/mL$. The establishment and colonization ability of the bacterial isolates on the ginseng rhizosphere appeared to be higher when both the bacterial isolate and the pathogen were coinoculated than when the bacterial isolate was inoculated alone, suggesting its target-oriented biocontrol activity against the pathogen. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the pathogen hyphae were twisted and shriveled by the bacterial treatment, which may be a symptom of direct damage by antifungal substances. Conclusion: All of these results suggest that the bacterial isolate has good potential as a microbial agent for the biocontrol of the ginseng root rot caused by F. cf. incarnatum.