• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.112-124
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• 2016

In order to see the spatio-temporal distribution patterns of macrobenthic fauna in subtidal areas of Nakdong River estuary, benthic fauna samples were collected seasonally at 8 sites in subtidal areas of Nakdong River estuary from February, 2013 to November, 2015. Sandy sediment facies was found in the southern part of the barrier islands in Nakdong River estuary while muddy sediment facies occupied at sites in offshore areas. The bottom salinity of the study area was measured greater than 30 psu during the study period. The mean species richness and density were estimated as 266 species and $859ind\;m^{-2}$, respectively. Polychaete worms were the most abundant fauna group, and four polychaete species such as Goniada maculata, Sternaspis chinensis, Magelona japonica, and Heteromastus filiformis occurred as dominant species in this study area. Pseudopolydora kempi known as an opportunistic species occurred dominantly only in August, 2013. From the multivariate analyses, the macrobenthic fauna in the subtidal area of the Nakdong River estuary could be divided into 2 assemblages that each occupied sites near barrier islands and offshore areas by sediment facies.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.256-264
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• 2014

This study was carried out to estimate the benthic environments and polychaetous community in Garolim Bay, through five field surveys from April 2006 to April 2007. Garilim Bay is a semi-enclosed bay and composed of a biramous tidal channel and nearby wide tidal flats. Surface sediment in the inner bay was composed of fine grained particles whereas that in the mouth area of bay was of coarse grained ones. Benthic polychaete worms were the most dominant taxa occupying 65.1% of total benthic macrofauna. Species number was higher in the inner bay than mouth and outer area of bay, and in the bay higher on the tidal flat than channel area. Density was higher on the tidal flat than channel area. Dominant polychaetous species were Prionospio sp., Heteromastus filiformis, Lumbrineris longifolia and so on, which is known as opportunistic species. Prionospio sp. and H. filiformis inhabited mainly on the tidal flats in inner bay, while L. longifolia in the channel area and mouth of the bay. Cluster analysis and nMDS showed the typical inner-to-outward distribution of station groups, which indicated the sequential difference of the species composition of each station group. To assess the benthic healthiness of Garolim Bay by AMBI and BPI analysis, the benthic condition was analyzed from slightly polluted in the outer and mouth of the bay to moderately polluted in the inner bay. Assumed from dominant species composition and benthic healthiness condition, benthic environments of Garolim Bay was slightly unstable and disturbed and organic enrichment was currently underway by massed fisheries farms.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.277-291
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• 2012

Aquaculture is challenged by a number of constraints with future efforts towards sustainable production. Global climate change has a potential damage to the sustainability by changing environmental surroundings unfavorably. The damaging parameters identified are water temperature, sea level, surface physical energy, precipitation, solar radiation, ocean acidification, and so on. Of them, temperature, mostly temperature elevation, occupies significant concern among marine ecologists and aquaculturists. Ocean acidification particularly draws shellfish aquaculturists' attention as it alters the marine chemistry, shifting the equilibrium towards more dissolved CO2 and hydrogen ions ($H^+$) and thus influencing signaling pathways on shell formation, immune system, and other biological processes. Temperature elevation by climate change is of double-sidedness: it can be an opportunistic parameter besides being a generally known damaging parameter in aquaculture. It can provide better environments for faster and longer growth for aquaculture species. It is also somehow advantageous for alleviation of aquaculture expansion pressure in a given location by opening a gate for new species and aquaculture zone expansion northward in the northern hemisphere, otherwise unavailable due to temperature limit. But in the science of climate change, the ways of influence on aquaculture are complex and ambiguous, and hence are still hard to identify and quantify. At the same time considerable parts of our knowledge on climate change effects on aquaculture are from the estimates from data of fisheries and agriculture. The consequences may be different from what they really are, particularly in the temperature region. In reality, bivalves and tunicates hung or caged in the longline system are often exposed to temperatures higher than those they encounter in nature, locally driving the farmed shellfish into an upper tolerable temperature extreme. We review recent climate change and following environment changes which can be factors or potential factors affecting shellfish aquaculture production in the temperate region.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2012

In order to understand the relationship between the formation of hypoxia sediment by eutrophication and changes in benthic foraminiferal assemblage, micropaleontological and geochemical analyses were carried out on one sediment box core (K-1) recovered in the northern Gamak Bay, which is one of the aquacultural areas in the South Sea of Korea. In this analysis, the PON content in the sediment rapidly increased, while the C/N ratio and the C/S ratio decreased since 1977. These results indicate that eutrophication commenced in 1977 in the northern Gamak Bay, and consequently, the hypoxia sediment is 20 cm thick. Ammonia beccarii-Buccella frigida assemblage occurs before the formation of hypoxia sediment. Trochammina hadai-Buccella frigida assemblage appeared in the transitional period toward hypoxia and Trochammina hadai assemblage with a low abundance and diversity is observed in the hypoxia sediment. The agglutinated species T. hadai is regarded as a bio-indicator (opportunistic species) of the organic pollution in northern Gamak Bay.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2000

Pneumocystis carinii is a major opportunistic pathogen which has been found in the lungs of a wide variety of mammalian host species, and the fact suggests the possibility of intraspecific variation. Until now, P. carinii from different mammalian species are differentiated as subspecies, and the rats are known to be infected by two subspecies. The present study investigated genetic heterogeneity of P. carinii isolates from two strains of rats in Korea and China by molecular karyotyping, RFLP and sequencing analysis. Karyotypes of P. carinii were grouped into three, two from two strains of rats In Korea and one from rats in China. However RFLP of PCR product of ribosomal and MSG gene of the P. carinii isolates showed same pattern. The sequence homology rates of ${\alpha}-tubulin$ DNA of the P. carinii isolates were 96% in Seoul Wistar rats, 93% in Seoul Sprague-Dawley rats, and 85% in Chinese Sprague-Dawley rats. The present finding confirmed that P. carinii from rats in Korea are grouped into two karyotype strains which are different from that of P. carinii from rats in China. The Chinese isolate shows a little different sequences of ${\alpha}-tubulin$ DNA.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.488-500
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• 2022

Most fungal infections by opportunistic yeast pathogens such as Candida spp. are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with lowered immune. Previous studies have reported that some strains of Candida secret secondary metabolites play an important role in the decreasing of immunity in the infected patient. In this study, 110 Candida spp. were isolated from different clinical specimens from Baghdad hospitals. Candida isolates were identified by conventional methods, they were processed for Candida speciation on CHROMagar. The results of identification were confirmed by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing. Phylogenetic trees were analyzed with reference strains deposited in GenBank. Antifungal susceptibility testing was evaluated by the disc diffusion method and performed as recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) M44-A document. Candida isolates investigated produce secondary metabolites gliotoxin with HPLC technique and quantification. Out of 110 Candida isolates, C. albicans (66.36%) was the most frequent isolate, followed by the isolates of C. tropicalis (10.9%) and C. glabrata (6.36%) respectively. Concerning the antifungal susceptibility test, Candida isolates showed a high level of susceptibility to Miconazole (70.9%), Itraconazole (68.2%), and Nystatine (64.5%). The ability of obtained isolates of Candida spp. to produce gliotoxin on RPMI medium was investigated, only 28 isolates had the ability to secret this toxin in culture filtrates. The highest concentrations were detected in C. albicans (1.048 ㎍/ml). Gliotoxin productivity of other Candida species was significantly lower. The retention time for gliotoxin was approximately 5.08 min.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.510-524
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• 2022

For the assessment of the benthic community health of Jinhae Bay using the Benthic Pollution Index, macrobenthic fauna samples were seasonally collected from 23 different sites between February, 2011 and November, 2012. The macrobenthic community health status was classified as "Poor" or "Very Poor" except for the bay mouth part of Jinhae Bay at the northern part of Geoje Island. A large proportion of functional Group IV and even azoic conditions appeared due to summer hypoxia at sites in sheltered regions of Jinhae Bay. Some of the dominant species recruited after summer hypoxia were Paraprionospio patiens, Sigambra bassi, and Theora fragilis belong to typical opportunistic species. By comparing the BPI values of the macrobenthic communities from other special management areas of Korea, Jinhae Bay was considered to have the lowest condition that was heavily polluted among special management areas.

• Mycobiology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.452-462
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• 2023

Opportunistic infections due to Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii species complexes continue to rise unabated among HIV/AIDS patients, despite improved antifungal therapies. Here, we collected a total of 20 environmental and 25 presumptive clinical cryptococcal isolates from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of 175 patients enrolled in an ongoing clinical trial Ambition 1 Project (Botswana-Harvard Partnership). Identity confirmation of the isolates was done using MALDI-TOF MS and PCR. We describe the diversity of the isolates by PCR fingerprinting and sequencing (Oxford Nanopore Technology) of the intergenic spacer region. Mating types of the isolates were determined by amplification of the MAT locus. We report an unusual prevalence of 42.1% of C. neoformans × C. deneoformans hybrids Serotype AD (n = 16), followed by 39.5% of C. neoformans Serotype A (n = 15), 5.3% of C. deneoformans, Serotype D (n = 2), 7.9% of C. gattii (n = 3), and 5.3% of C. tetragattii (n = 2) in 38 representative isolates that have been characterized. Mating type-specific PCR performed on 38 representative environmental and clinical isolates revealed that 16 (42.1%) were MATa/MAT𝛼 hybrids, 17 (44.7%) were MAT𝛼, and five (13.2%) possessed MATa mating type. We used conventional and NGS platforms to demonstrate a potential link between environmental and clinical isolates and lay a foundation to further describe mating patterns/history in Botswana.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1276-1286
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• 2024

The environment has been identified as an origin, reservoir, and transmission route of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Among diverse environments, freshwater environments have been recognized as pivotal in the transmission of ARGs between opportunistic pathogens and autochthonous bacteria such as Aeromonas spp. In this study, five environmental strains of Aeromonas spp. exhibiting multidrug resistance (MDR) were selected for whole-genome sequencing to ascertain their taxonomic assignment at the species-level and to delineate their ARG repertoires. Analyses of their genomes revealed the presence of one protein almost identical to AhQnr (A. hydrophila Qnr protein) and four novel proteins similar to AhQnr. To scrutinize the classification and taxonomic distribution of these proteins, all Aeromonas genomes deposited in the NCBI RefSeq genome database (1,222 genomes) were investigated. This revealed that these Aeromonas Qnr (AQnr) proteins are conserved intrinsic resistance determinants of the genus, exhibiting species-specific diversity. Additionally, structure prediction and analysis of contribution to quinolone resistance by AQnr proteins of the isolates, confirmed their functionality as quinolone resistance determinants. Given the origin of mobile qnr genes from aquatic bacteria and the crucial role of Aeromonas spp. in ARG dissemination in aquatic environments, a thorough understanding and strict surveillance of AQnr families prior to the clinical emergence are imperative. In this study, using comparative genome analyses and functional characterization of AQnr proteins in the genus Aeromonas, novel Aeromonas ARGs requiring surveillance has suggested.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.195-205
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• 2013

Excessive input of organic matters from fish cage farming has been considered as one of the major factors disturbing benthic ecosystem, especially in semi-enclosed coastal waters. Recently offshore aquaculture in the vicinity of Jeju-do has been introduced to minimize that kind of negative impact. This study was conducted to investigate the ecological impacts of offshore aquaculture on the macrobenthic polychaete communities. A total of ten sampling works were carried out for 28 months, spanning from 10 days after starting giving feed to 3 months after stopping giving feed. During the study period, mean current velocity was quite strong with the range of 50 cm/s to 70 cm/s. TOC of surface sediment was constantly low. Significant changes in polychaete community were detected just three months after starting giving feed, which were the increase of the number of species and density at all stations. Up to 18 months after the start of farming, the amount of feed provided played an important role in the fluctuation of the number of species and density, especially at 0 m and 10 m stations. After reducing the amount of feed provided, dominance of some opportunistic species within 10 m distance from fish cages still lasted to the end of aquaculture. However, opportunistic species disappeared 3 months after the end of farming, which indicated the sign of recovery from the disturbance. From these results, the amount of food input and the period of cultivation were critical factors disturbing polychaete community and ensuing changes in this offshore and oligotrophic waters as well. In addition, study on the changes of polychaete community structure before and after fish farming showed more detailed changes in benthic ecological state than geochemical approach did.