• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.771-780
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• 2018

To develope a microbial weed control agent, HCN-producing bacteria were isolated, and their characteristics were investigated. A selected strain of WA15 was identified as Pseudomonas koreensis by morphological, cultural, biochemical and 16S rRNA gene analyses. The conditions for HCN production was investigated by a One-Variable-at-a-Time (OVT) method. The optimal HCN production conditions were tryptone 1%, glycine 0.06%, NaCl 1%, and an initial pH and temperature of 5.0 and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. The major component for HCN production was glycine. Under optimal conditions, HCN production was about 3 times higher than that of the basal medium. The WA15 strain had physiological activities, such as indoleacetic acid that was associated with the elongation of plant roots and siderophore and ammonification inhibiting fungal growth, and produced hydrolytic enzymes, such as cellulase, pectinase and lipase. The strain was able to inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi, such as Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium oxysporum, by the synergistic action of volatile HCN and diffusible antimicrobial compounds. A microscopic observation of R. solani that was teated with the WA15 strain showed morphological abnormalities of fungal mycelia, which could explain the role of the antimicrobial metabolites that were produced by the WA15 strain. The volatile HCN produced by the WA15 strain was also found to have insecticidal activity against termites. Our results indicate that Pseudomonas koreensis WA15 can be applied as a microbial agent for weed control and also as a termite repellent. Furthermore, it could be applied as a microbial termiticidal agent to replace synthetic insecticides.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.341-345
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• 2007

Fifty endophytic bacteria, which produced slime around the colonies, were isolated from Pueraria roots. In particular, HDN-14, TDG-3, and TNB-3 strains, which appeared to be high viscosity producers, were selected. These strains produced high levels of polysaccharides in Puerara root medium extract. The purified polysaccharide was digested with 1N HCI and analyzed by HPLC, with glucose ($45.6{\sim}63.1%$), maltose ($14.6{\sim}23.7%$), and fructose ($17.4{\sim}23.7%$) detected as constitutive sugars. When determined by the homology relationship of the 16S rDNA sequence with the relative taxa, the HDN-14 and TNB-3 strains were closely ($99.06{\sim}99.32%$) related to the Pseudomonas $koreensis^T$ and Pseudomonas $jessenii^T$, while TDG-3 were closely ($99.48{\sim}99.74%$) related to Pseudomonas $plecoglossicida^T$, Pseudomonas $mosselii^T$, and Pseudomonas $monteilii^T$. The major cellular Pseudomonas acids are $3OH-C_{10:0}$, $2OH-C_{12:0}$, $3OH-C_{12:0}$, and $3OH-C_{12:1}$, with these strains being further differentiated in species belonging to the genus Pseudomonas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.31-31
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• 2020

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2011

The Egr-1 gene is known to be a transcription factor for activating the expression of many tumor-repressing genes. In this study, three strains activating the promoter of the Egr-1 gene were selected, through the use of Egr-1 luciferase reporter assay and western blotting, from amongst approximately 3,800 oligotrophic bacteria isolated from the cultivated soils of various regions within Korea. These strains were identified as Pseudomonas koreensis on the basis of phylogenetic tree analysis of their 16S ribosomal DNA sequences and biochemical characteristics analyses using a variety of commercial kits (API 20NE, ID 32GN, API ZYM kits). In addition, we discovered that these strains produced anti-bacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.253-261
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• 2012

We isolated and characterized novel duck feather-degrading bacteria producing keratinase. Twelve strains were isolated from soil and faces at poultry farm, and decayed feathers. They were identified as Bacillus methylotrophicus, Pseudomonas geniculata, Pseudomonas hibiscicola, Exiquobacterium profundum, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Chryseobacterium indologenes, Bacillus thuringiensis, Thermomonas koreensis, respectively, by phenotypic characters and 16S rRNA gene analysis. Generally, the level of keratinase production was not proportional to feather degradation rate. The highest keratinolytic activity was observed in the culture inoculated with Chryseobacterium indologenes D27. Although all strains did not degrade human hair, strains tested effectively degraded chicken feather(53.8-91.4%), wool(40.4-93.0%) and human nail (51.0-82.9%). These results suggest that strains isolated could be not only used to improve the nutritional value of recalcitrant feather waste but also is a potential candidate for biotechnological processes of keratin hydrolysis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.757-761
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• 2014

Olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) is an important aquaculture fish species in Jeju Island, South Korea. Due to the intensification of flounder fish farming, huge amounts of chemical antibiotics are used against several fish diseases. This has many harmful side effects on fish, as well as human consumers. Hence, an alternative to chemical antibiotic agents is needed for disease control. In this study, three strains of rhizobacteria (BRH433-2, TRH415-2, and THJ609-3) were isolated from the rhizosphere of plants. Assays of their antibacterial activity against fish pathogens, such as S. iniae, S. parauberis, V. anguillarum, and E. tarda, were performed with untreated broth culture (without cell separation), supernatant, and precipitated pellets separated by centrifugation. Among these, the cell suspension prepared from the precipitated pellet showed significant antimicrobial activity when compared with that of the untreated broth culture and centrifugal supernatant. These results indicate that the three isolated rhizobacterial strains exhibit antibacterial activity. Analysis of the 16S rDNA sequences of the BRH-433-2, THJ609-3, and TRH415-2 strains showed the highest similarity to Burkholderia gladioli (99.5%), Pseudomonas baetica (97.7%), and P. koreensis and P. baetica (98.4%), respectively. We suggest that the strains hold promise in disease management of fish.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.66-73
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• 2011

Bacterial density distributions of gut microbes in the digestive organs of Harmonia axyridis collected from three different sources (JK, CK, and CJ) were $6.0{\times}10^4$ CFU/gut under aerobic culture condition and $8.0{\times}10^6$ CFU/gut under anaerobic culture condition. Seven colony types were observed under aerobic condition and three types of similarity were detected under anaerobic condition. In total, 116 strains, including 34 strains under aerobic condition, were isolated from the digestive organs of H. axyridis. Based on the analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, aerobic gut microbes were assigned to the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococcus-Thermus. A large number of isolates belonged to the genus Bacillus and Staphylococcus of the Firmicutes commonly found in H. axyridis from different sites. Anaerobic gut microbes were found to be similar according to colony morphological, phylogenetic analysis using ARDRA. Eighty-two anaerobic gut microbes were clustered into 17 different ARDRA types according to HaeIII. Representative anaerobic gut microbes in each ARDRA group were divided into five species of ${\gamma}$-Proteobacteria based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis; Hafnia alvei, Enterobacter ludwigii, Enterobacter kobei, Pseudomonas oryzihabitans and Pseudomonas koreensis. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that about 70% of the isolates belonged to ${\gamma}$-Proteobacteria, suggesting predominance of gut microbes.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2012

Since many pesticides cause various health and environmental problems, alternative measures to replace them are needed, and the bacteria producing the antifungal substances can be one of them. In this study, several rhizobacteria were isolated and their antifungal activities against some important plant pathogenic fungi were examined. Pseudomonas otitidis TK1 and Paenibacillus peoriae RhAn32 inhibited the growth of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum and F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici by 49.8% and 45.6%, and 45.1% and 48.3%, respectively compared to those of the control. P. peoriae RhAn32 also decreased the growth of F. oxysporum f. sp. raphani by 37.5%. This growth inhibition might be due to the production of antifungal substances, such as siderophore, hydrogen cyanide and chitinase, which were produced by these rhizobacteria. P. otitidis TK1 also produced plant growth hormones indole acetic acid and indole butyric acid at $293.41{\mu}g/mg$ protein and $418.53{\mu}g/mg$ protein, respectively. When P. otitidis TK1 and B. cereus TK2 were inoculated together with F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici to the 4 weeks grown tomato seedlings and incubated additional 8 weeks, the stem lengths of tomato increased up to 45.7% and 55.3% and root lengths were raised to 64.9% and 60.8%, respectively than those of the control group. The wet weights increased by 118% and 182%, respectively compared to the control group.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.313-322
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• 2022

Seed-borne pathogens in crops reduce the seed germination rate and hamper seedling growth, leading to significant yield loss. Due to the growing concerns about environmental damage and the development of resistance to agrochemicals among pathogen populations, there is a strong demand for eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic chemicals in agriculture. It has been well established during the last few decades that plant seeds harbor diverse microbes, some of which are vertically transmitted and important for plant health and productivity. In this study, we isolated culturable endophytic bacteria and fungi from soybean seeds and evaluated their antagonistic activities against common bacterial and fungal seed-borne pathogens of soybean. A total of 87 bacterial isolates and 66 fungal isolates were obtained. Sequencing of 16S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer amplicon showed that these isolates correspond to 30 and 15 different species of bacteria and fungi, respectively. Our antibacterial and antifungal activity assay showed that four fungal species and nine bacterial species have the potential to suppress the growth of at least one seed-borne pathogen tested in the study. Among them, Pseudomonas koreensis appears to have strong antagonistic activities across all the pathogens. Our collection of soybean seed endophytes would be a valuable resource not only for studying biology and ecology of seed endophytes but also for practical deployment of seed endophytes toward crop protection.