• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.930-935
• /
• 2015

A phytase gene was identified in a publicly available metagenome derived from subsurface groundwater, which was deduced to encode for a protein of the histidine acid phosphatase (HAP) family. The nucleotide sequence of the phytase gene was chemically synthesized and cloned, in order to further overexpress the phytase in Escherichia coli. Purified protein of the recombinant phytase demonstrated an activity for phytic acid of 298 ± 17 µmol P/min/mg, at the pH optimum of 2.0 with the temperature of 37℃. Interestingly, the pH optimum of this phytase is much lower in comparison with most HAP phytases known to date. It suggests that the phytase could possess improved adaptability to the low pH condition caused by the gastric acid in livestock and poultry stomachs.

• The Journal of Engineering Research
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.83-96
• /
• 2004

A soil mailed wall is adapted as road widening measure and is constructed under a miniature abutment built on steel pipe piles. The soil nailed wall called for removal of the existing embankment slope to permanently retain the fill behind the abutment. The soil nailed wall is fully instrumented and is monitored. A 3D finite element analysis is used to study further the behavior of the soil nailed wall. The complete sequence of construction is simulated. The numerical model is calibrated against the instrumented nailed wall. Then a parametric study is conducted. The results provide valuable information related to the effect of the excavation and nailing on the following: axial load and bending moment in the piles, load in the nails, and wall deflections.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.431-442
• /
• 2020

Penicillium, the most common genus plays an important ecological role in various terrestrial and marine environments. However, only a few species have been reported from rhizosphere soil. As part of a project to excavate Korean indigenous fungi, we investigated rhizosphere soil of six plants in the forest (terrestrial habitat) and sand dunes (coastal habitat) and focused on discovering Penicillium species. A total of 64 strains were isolated and identified as 26 Penicillium species in nine sections based on morphological characteristics and the sequence analysis of β-tubulin and calmodulin. Although this is a small-scale study in a limited rhizosphere soil, eight unrecorded species and four potential new species have been identified. In addition, most Penicillium species from rhizosphere soil were unique to each plant. Penicillium halotolerans, P. scabrosum, P. samsonianum, P. jejuense, and P. janczewskii were commonly isolated from rhizosphere soil. Eight Penicillium species, P. aurantioviolaceum, P. bissettii, P. cairnsense, P. halotolerans, P. kananaskense, P. ortum, P. radiatolobatum, and P. verhagenii were recorded for the first time in Korea. Here, we provide the detailed morphological description of these unrecorded species.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.108.1-108
• /
• 2003

Soil metagenome is untapped total microbial genome including that of the majority of unculturable bacteria present in soil. We constructed soil metagenomic library in Escherichia coli using DNA directly extracted from two different soils, pine tree rhizosphere soil and forest topsoil. Metagenomic libraries constructed from pine tree rhizosphere soil and forest topsoil consisted of approximately 33,700 clones and 112,000 clones with average insert DNA size of 35-kb, respectively. Subsequently, we screened the libraries to select clones with antimicrobial activities against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Agrobacterium tumefaciens using double agar layer method. So far, we have a clone active against S. cerevisiae and a clone active against A. tumefaciens from the forest topsoil library. In vitro mutagenesis and DNA sequence analysis of the antifungal clone revealed the genes involved in the biosynthesis of antimicrobial secondary metabolite. Metagenomic libraries constructed in this study would be subject to search for diverse genetic resources related with useful microbial products.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.49-58
• /
• 2012

Batch experiments using indigenous and commercialized adventive microorganisms were performed to investigate the feasibility of the biodegradation process for the diesel contaminated soil, which was taken in US Military Camp 'Hialeah', Korea. TPH concentration of the soil was determined as 3,819 mg/kg. Four indigenous microorganisms having high TPH degradation activity were isolated from the soil and by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, they were identified as Arthrobacter sp., Burkholderia sp., Cupriavidus sp. and Bacillus sp.. Two kinds of commercialized solutions cultured with adventive microorganisms were also used for the experiments. Various biodegradation conditions such as the amount of microorganism, water content and the temperature were applied to decide the optimal bioavailability condition in the experiments. In the case of soils without additional microorganisms (on the natural attenuation condition), 35% of initial TPH was removed from the soil by inhabitant microorganisms in soil for 30 days. When the commercialized microorganism cultured solutions were added into the soil, their average TPH removal efficiencies were 64%, and 54%, respectively, which were higher than that without additional microorganisms. When indigenous microorganisms isolated from the contaminated soil were added into the soil, TPH removal efficiency increased up to 95% (for Bacillus sp.). According to the calculation of the average biodegradation rates for Bacillus sp., the remediation goal (87% of the removal efficiency: 500 mg/kg) for the soil would reach within 24 days. Results suggested that TPH removal efficiency of biodegradation by injecting indigenous microorganisms is better than those by injecting commercialized adventive microorganisms and only by using the natural attenuation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.3-9
• /
• 1994

Characterstics, genesis and classification of soils derived from coarse grain granitic materials were discussed with four soil series, such as Samgag, Sangju. Sachon and Yecheon which were distributed over the area of Gangdae-Ri, Nengseo-Myeon, Yeoju-Gun, Gyunggi-Do. The results are as follows. 1. Samgag, Sangju, Sachon and Yecheon had a soil of excessively, well, imperfectly and poorly drained, thus they had a soil drainage sequence. 2. Soil textural class were from sandy loam to loam. Silt and clay content were increased with descending to the local bottom, while sand content was decreased. 3. Soils were very strongly to strongly acid and OM, CEC, exchangeable cation, and available $P_2O_5$ in soils seemed to be increased with ascending to the local boctom. 4. Kaolinite and Quartz were the dominant clay mineral and the other was Vermiculite and Illite. 5. Samgag was classified as Typic Dystrochrepts, Sangju as Dystric-Fluventic Eutrochrepts, Sachon as Aeric-Fluventic Halpaquepts, and Yecheon as Fluventic Haplaquepts.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2014.10a
• /
• pp.47-47
• /
• 2014

Dokdo island is located in the northeastern part of Ulleungdo, known as volcanic island. In total, 53 fungal isolates were isolated from Dokdo island soil sample, using dilution plate technique. The isolates were identified on the basis of morphological characteristics and rDNA ITS sequence analysis. Out of them, 41 isolates were identified at the level of species. The dominant fungal species and genera included Fusarium spp., Mucor sp., Clonostachys spp., and Trichoderma sp. The % sequence identity (the number of matches/the complete alignment length) values via NCBI BLAST searching of EML-IF9, EML-MF30-1 and EML-DDSF4 represented 97.19% (485/499) with Clonostachys cf. rosea (GenBank accession no. KC313107), 98.33% (472/480) with Metarhizium guizhouense (GenBank accession no. HM055445), and 100% (350/350) with Mortierella oligospora (GenBank accession no. JX976032), respectively. Three species of C. rosea, M. guizhouense and M. oligospora represented new records of fungi from Dokdo island, Korea. The antimicrobial activities of the fungal strains varied with tested. Two isolates (EML-MFS30-1 and EML-IF9) showed antifungal activity against several fungi including Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizotonia solani. Clonostachys rosea (EML-IF9) showed strong hydrolytic enzyme activity. Our results showed that the antagonistic fungi including Clonostachys rosea will be used as potential biocontrol agents for control of fungal diseases.

• Journal of Species Research
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.339-345
• /
• 2020

The Earth contains billions of microbial species, although the vast majority cannot be cultured in laboratories and are thus considered unidentified and uncharacterized. Extremophiles are microorganisms that thrive in extreme conditions, including temperature, salinity, and pH. Extremophilic microorganisms have provided important insights for biological, metabolic, and evolutionary studies. Between 2017 and 2019, as part of a comprehensive investigation to identify bacterial species in Korea, eight bacterial strains were isolated from marine and non-marine environments in Jeju Island. These strains were cultured under extreme salinity or pH conditions. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA) gene sequencing indicated that all eight strains belonged to the phyla Gammaproteobacteria, Bacilli, and Alphaproteobacteria. Based on their high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities(>98.7%) and the formation of strong monophyletic clades with their closest related species, all isolated strains were considered as an unrecorded strain, previously unidentified species. Gram stain reaction, culture conditions, colony and cell morphology, biochemical characteristics, isolation source, and National Institute of Biological Resources(NIBR) IDs are described in this article. The characterization of these unrecorded strains provides information on microorganisms living in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.61-63
• /
• 2017

A Gram-negative, yellow-pigmented, long-rod shaped bacterium Spirosoma montaniterrae $DY10^T$ was isolated from a soil sample collected at Mt. Deogyusan, Jeonbuk Province, Republic of Korea. Cells showed extreme gamma radiation resistance with the $D_{10}$ value of 12 KGy. The complete genome sequence of strain $DY10^T$ is consist of a circular chromosome (5,797,678 bp) encoding 5,116 genes, 9 rRNA genes and 39 tRNA genes. The genomic features contain the key enzymes for gamma and UVC radiation.

• Journal of Species Research
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.191-196
• /
• 2019

In 2015 and 2017, the National Institute of Biological Resources has isolated four unrecorded prokaryotic species designated as R-1-5, R-2-13, R-2-1, and R-1-8 from the peatland soil of Yongneup. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity determined the four strains (R-1-5, R-2-13, R-2-1, R-1-8) were most closely related to Curvibacter lanceolatus (99.93%), Massilia brevitalea (98.7%), Pseudomonas lini (99.54%), and Pseudomonas vancouverensis (99.93%), respectively. The four unrecorded strains belong to the phylum Proteobacteria, in which the genera Curvibacter and Massilia are assigned to the class Betaproteobacteria, and the genus Pseudomonas to the class Gammaproteobacteria. Since there are no publications or official reports on these four strains, these four species are new records to Korea. The strains were further characterized by Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, basic biochemical properties, and phylogenetic position. Descriptive information of the four unrecorded species is provided.