• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.333-341
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• 2021

In this study, to select strains suitable as microbial agent from among rhizosphere microorganisms present in rhizosphere soil and roots, the mineral solubilization ability, antifungal activity against 10 types of plant pathogenic fungi, and plant growth-promoting activity of rhizosphere microorganisms were evaluated. As a result, DDP346 was selected because it has solubilization ability of phosphoric acid, calcium carbonate, silicon, and zinc; nitrogen fixing ability; production ability of siderophore, indole-3-acetic acid, and aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase; and antifungal activity against seven types of plant pathogenic fungi. DDP346 showed a 99.9% homology with Acinetobacter pittii DSM 21653 (NR_117621.1); phylogenetic analysis also revealed a close relationship with Acinetobacter pittii based on the 16S rRNA base sequence. The growth conditions of DDP346 were identified as temperatures in the range of 10-40 ℃, pH in the range of 5-11, and salt concentrations in the range of 0-5%. In addition, a negative correlation coefficient (r² = -0.913, p <0.01) was shown between pH change and the solubilized phosphoric acid content of Acinetobacter sp. DDP346, and this is assumed to be due to the organic acid generated during culture. Consequently, through the evaluation of its mineral solubilization ability, antifungal activity against plant pathogenic fungi, and plant growth-promoting activity, the potential for the utilization of Acinetobacter sp. DDP346 as a multi-purpose microbial agent is presented.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.503-510
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• 1999

In order to analyze nutritional factors affecting in situ bioremediation of diesel degradation and cell viability were studied by varying nutritional conditions. In column experiments packed with diesel-contaminated soil, nitrogen was found to be the major limiting nutrient. When nitrogen was added to soil at four different levels of C : N (100 : 5, 100 : 10, 100 : 15, and 100 : 20 mg N/kg dry soil), the greatest simulation of microbial activity occurred at the lowest, rather than the highest nitrogen addition. However, no significant effects was observed when phosphorus and air were added. No matter how the incubation mode varied, less than 50% of the diesel was remained after 7 days of treatment, presumably because the residual hydrocarbons were adsorbed on soil particles, adsorption

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.52-58
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• 2005

In Korea, little attention has been paid to microbial perchloroethylene (PCE) and/or trichloroethylene (TCE) dechlorination activity and identification of microorganisms involved in PCE reductive dechlorination at a PCE-contaminated aquifer. We performed microcosm tests using the groundwater samples from 4 different contaminated sites (i.e. Changwon A, Changwon B, Bucheon and Yangsan) to assess PCE reductive dechlorination activity. We also adapted molecular techniques to screen what types of known reductive dechlorinators are present at the PCE-contaminated aquifers. In the Changwon A and Changwon B active microcosms where potential electron donors such as sodium propionate, sodium lactate, sodium butyrate, and sodium fumarate, were added, ethylene, an end-product of complete reductive dechlorination of PCE, was detected after a period of 90 days of incubation. In the Bucheon and Yangsan active microcosms, cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (c-DCE) was accumulated without the production of vinyl chloride (VC) and ethylene. Molecular techniques were used to evaluate the microbial community structures in the Changwon B and Yangsan aquifer. We found two sequence types that were closely related to a known PCE to ethylene dechlorinator, named uncultured bacterium clone DCE47, in the Changwon B site clone library. However, in the Yangsan site clone library, no sequence type was closely related to known PCE dechlorinators reported. It is plausible that microorganisms being capable of completely dechlorinating PCE to ethylene may be present in the Changwon B site aquifer. In this study we find that complete PCE reductive dechlorinators are present at some PCE-contaminated sites in Korea. In an engineering point of view this information makes it feasible to apply a biological reductive dechlorination process for remediating PCE- and/or TCE-contaminated aquifers in Korea.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.185-195
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• 2006

Phytoremediation is an economical and environmentally friendly bioremediation technique using plants which can increase the microbial population in soil. Unlike other pollutants such as heavy metals, poly-chlorinated biphenyl, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and so on, petroleum hydrocarbons are relatively easily degradable by soil microbes. For successful phytoremediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, it is important to select plants with high removal efficiency through microbial degradation. In this study, we clarified the roles of plants and rhizobacteria and identified their species effective on phytore-mediation by reviewing the papers previously reported. Plants and rhizobacteria can degrade and remove the petroleum hydrocarbons directly and indirectly by stimulating each other's degradation activity. The preferred plant species are alfalfa, ryegrass, tall fescue, poplar, corn, etc. The microorganisms with a potential to degrade hydrocarbons mostly belong to Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., and Alcaligenes spp. It has been reported that the elimination efficiency of hydrocarbons by soil microorganisms can be improved when plants were simultaneously applied. For more efficient restoration, it's necessary to understand the plant-rhizobacteria interaction and to select the suitable plant and microorganism species.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2006

YNB54 strain which shows inhibitory activities specific to the plant pathogenic Phytophthora sp. on potato dextrose agar medium was screened among lots of strains isolated from Korean soils. To identify taxonomy of the Phytophthora specific antagonistic bacteria YNB54, 165 rDNA sequence, MIDI fatty acid composition, DNA-DNA hybridization, GC content, and commercial multitest systems such as API 20E and Biolog GN were performed. Results of commercial kits including lots of biochemical and physiological reactions showed that this strain was closely related to taxa including Enterobacter cloacae and Enterobacter cancerogenus species than other genera(Citerobacter Klebsiella, Leclercia). Also, analysis of its MIDI, G+C contents, and DNA-DNA hybridization suggests that this strain was more similiar to the Genus Enterobacter than other genera (Citerobacter Klebsiella, Leclercia). This strain was potentially identified as Enterobacter sp. by these results. But our 16S ribosomal DNA sequences (rDNA) analysis confirmed that it was more closely related to the cluster of Citerobacter freundii ATCC 29935 than any other Enterobacter species. In the absence of defined phylogenetic critia for delineating genera, the results observed with Citrobacter and Enterobacter species suggest that further studies are needed to clarify their relationships. This investigation demonstrates that YNB54 strain is genetically diverse and potentially more taxonomically complex than hitherto realized. Further study is necessary to confirm their taxonomic positions.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.138-144
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• 1976

five strains of Streptomyces spp. with high Productivity of glucose isomerase (15-30 units/ml) were obtained among 280 microbial strains isolated from 150 soil samples. These strains produced glucose isomerase with xylose as an inducer. These 5 strains were also identified to be different strains of Streptomyces spp.：streptomyces sp. K-14, K-53, K-71, K-77 and K-733. It was found that Streptomyces sp. K-14 produced the highest enzyme activity. The spore chains of these strains were rectiflexible and spore surface was smooth except Steptomyces sp. K-77 and K-733, with spiny surface.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1203-1210
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• 2011

Function-driven metagenomic analysis is a powerful approach to screening for novel biocatalysts. In this study, we investigated lipolytic enzymes selected from an alluvial soil metagenomic library, and identified two novel esterases, EstDL26 and EstDL136. EstDL26 and EstDL136 reactivated chloramphenicol from its acetyl derivates by counteracting the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in Escherichia coli. These two enzymes showed only 27% identity in amino acid sequence to each other; however both preferentially hydrolyzed short-chain p-nitrophenyl esters (${\leq}C_5$) and showed mesophilic properties. In vitro, EstDL136 catalyzed the deacetylation of 1- and 3-acetyl and 1,3-diacetyl derivates; in contrast, EstDL26 was not capable of the deacetylation at $C_1$, indicating a potential regioselectivity. EstDL26 and EstDL136 were similar to microbial hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), and since chloramphenicol acetate esterase (CAE) activity was detected from two other soil esterases in the HSL family, this suggests a distribution of CAE among the soil microorganisms. The isolation and characterization of EstDL26 and EstDL136 in this study may be helpful in understanding the diversity of CAE enzymes and their potential role in releasing active chloramphenicol in the producing bacteria.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.604-615
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• 2019

In this study, we produce a new type of the algae soil conditioner(ASC) using discarded algae biomass through a composting process and evaluate its nutritional characteristics. As the main ingredient, the ASCs used algae biomass collected through the coagulation-floating method and made by adding a variety of additional supporting materials (sawdust, pearlite, oilcake etc.). ASCs were divided into 0% in blank, 11.7% in ASC1, 21.6% in ASC2, 37.6% in ASC3, 59.5% in ASC4, and composted during 127 days. ASCs showed a sharp increase in temperature by aerobic microbial reaction, and 6~7 high and low temperature peaks were observed. As a result of physicochemical analysis, mineralization proceeded according to decomposing the organic matter and there was a marked increase not only in macronutrients (TN, P₂O₅, K₂O), but also in secondary macronutrients (CaO, MgO). The microbial community change was found in stage 1 (bacteria, filamentous fungi) → stage 2 (actinomycetes, bacteria) → stage 3 (Bacillus sp.), depending on the maturation process. It was estimated that microbial transition was closely related to temperature change and nutritional behavior. The quality of soil conditioner can be determined according to the maturity of compost process, and it was determined that effective microbial activity could be induced by controlling algae biomass below 59.5% in this study. In conclusion, we found out the possibility of manufacturing and utilizing soil conditioner recycled algae biomass and if further technological development is made on the basis it can be used as an effective soil conditioner.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.82-86
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• 1996

Three thousand microbial strains collected from different sources were screened for herbicidal activity. A strain of ME-9189 showed herbicidal activity against Digitaria sanguinalis and Portulaca oleracea was isolated from a mountainy soil. Based on taxonomic studies, the strain was identified as Streptomyces tubercidicus. The active compound of ME-9189 was purified from the culture broth by charcoal, silica gel, sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and crystalization, consecutively. The ME-9189 compound was identified as tubercidin by spectroscopic methods of UV, $^{1}H$ and $^{13}C$-NMR, and EIMS. In the bioassay, growth of radish shoot and root was inhibited by 50% with tubercidin treatment of 10 ppm, showing 2 times higher activity than that of herbicidin A and similar to that of toyocamycin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1664-1671
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• 2010

A new biosurfactant producer was isolated from palm-oil-contaminated soil and later identified through morphology and DNA sequencing as the yeast-like fungus Exophiala dermatitidis. Biosurfactant production was catalyzed by vegetable oil, supplemented with a basal medium. The culture conditions that provided the biosurfactant with the highest surface activity were found to be 5% palm oil with 0.08% $NH_4NO_3$, at a pH of 5.3, with shaking at 200 rpm, and a temperature of $30^{\circ}C$ for a 14-day period of incubation. The biosurfactant was purified, in accordance with surfactant properties, by solvent fractionation using silica gel column chromatography. The chemical structure of the strongest surface-active compound was elucidated through the use of NMR and mass spectroscopy, and noted to be monoolein, which then went on to demonstrate antiproliferative activity against cervical cancer (HeLa) and leukemia (U937) cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, no cytotoxicity was observed with normal cells even when high concentrations were used. Cell and DNA morphological changes, in both cancer cell lines, were observed to be cell shrinkage, membrane blebbling, and DNA fragmentation.