• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.143-157
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• 2024

As part of the research program "Freshwater Prokaryotic Organisms Research and Discovery," freshwater samples were collected from the Nakdonggang River. After plating the samples on several culture media and incubating aerobically, approximately 900 bacterial strains were isolated and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequences. Among the bacterial isolates showing higher than 98.7% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with those of already confirmed bacterial species previously unreported in Korea, 29 strains were selected. These strains were phylogenetically diverse and belonged to 3 phyla, 6 classes, 13 orders, and 21 genera. At the genus level, these previously unreported species were found to be affiliated with Novosphingobium, Sphingomonas, Polymorphobacter, Croceibacterium, Devosia, Endobacterium, Agaricicola, Bradyrhizobium, Paracoccus, and Pseudotabrizicola of the class Alphaproteobacteria; Undibacterium, Azonexus, and Dechloromonas of the class Betaproteobacteria; Acinetobacter and Budvicia of the class Gammaproteobacteria; Streptomyces, Nocardioides, Mycobacterium, and Cellulomonas of the phylum Actinomycetota; Flavobacterium and Pedobacter of the phylum Bacteroidota. These species were further characterized by examining their Gram reaction, colony and cell morphologies, biochemical properties, and phylogenetic positions. Detailed descriptions of these 29 previously unreported species are provided.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2013

With increasing environmental issues from synthetic chemical herbicides, microbe-originated herbicides could be a fascinating alternative in current agriculture. We isolated Streptomyces strains that produced herbicidal active metabolite(s) against a grass weed Digitaria sanguinalis. According to the result from 16S rDNA sequence comparison with the close strains, the best isolate (Code name MS-80673) was identified as Streptomyces scopuliridis KR-001. The closest type strain was Streptomyces scopuliridis RB72 which was previously reported as a bacteriocin producer. The optimal culture condition of S. scopuliridis KR-001 was $28^{\circ}C$, pH 7.0 and culture period 4 to7 days. Both of soil and foliar application of the crude culture broth concentrate was effective on several troublesome or noxious weed species such as a Sciyos angulatus in a greenhouse and field condition. Phytotoxic symptoms of the culture broth concentrate of S. scopuliridis KR-001 by foliar application were wilting and burndown of leaves, and stems followed by discoloration and finally plant death. In crops such as rice, wheat, barley, hot pepper and tomato, growth inhibition was observed. These results suggest that the new S. scopuliridis KR-001 strain producing herbicidal metabolites may be a new bio-herbicide candidate and/or may provide a new lead molecule for a more efficient herbicide.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.1144-1154
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• 2019

There have been several studies regarding lichen-associated bacteria obtained from diverse environments. Our screening process identified 49 bacterial species in two lichens from the Himalayas: 17 species of Actinobacteria, 19 species of Firmicutes, and 13 species of Proteobacteria. We discovered five types of strong antimicrobial agent-producing bacteria. Although some strains exhibited weak antimicrobial activity, NP088, NP131, NP132, NP134, and NP160 exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against all multidrug-resistant strains. Polyketide synthase (PKS) fingerprinting revealed results for 69 of 148 strains; these had similar genes, such as fatty acid-related PKS, adenylation domain genes, PfaA, and PksD. Although the association between antimicrobial activity and the PKS fingerprinting results is poorly resolved, NP160 had six types of PKS fingerprinting genes, as well as strong antimicrobial activity. Therefore, we sequenced the draft genome of strain NP160, and predicted its secondary metabolism using antiSMASH version 4.2. NP160 had 46 clusters and was predicted to produce similar secondary metabolites with similarities of 5-100%. Although NP160 had 100% similarity with the alkylresorcinol biosynthetic gene cluster, our results showed low similarity with existing members of this biosynthetic gene cluster, and most have not yet been revealed. In conclusion, we expect that lichen-associated bacteria from the Himalayas can produce new secondary metabolites, and we found several secondary metabolite-related biosynthetic gene clusters to support this hypothesis.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.109-111
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• 2010

Recent studies have described various microorganisms that can degrade PAH, however, there are currently limited methods available to screen for PAH-degrading microorganisms. To screen for PAH-degrading microorganisms, a sublimation method (Alley, Jeremy F. and Lewis R. Brown. 2000. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66, 439-442) was modified to produce a simple screening system. In our results, there were several bacterial species capable of pyrene degradation including genera, Coryenbacterium, Gordonia, Rhodococcus, and Streptomyces, which have been screened from 350 bacterial isolates of commercial gasoline and oil-spilled sediment by the sublimation method. The main advantage of this method is that it (i) safely deposits an even, thin and visible layer of PAH onto the agar surface without the use of solvents and (ii) the quantity of PAH sublimed onto the agar can be easily controlled. Overall, this sublimation method may be an effective and simple technique to screen for PAH-degrading microorganisms.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1353-1356
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• 2008

RNase E (Rne) plays a major role in the decay and processing of numerous RNAs in E. coli, and protein inhibitors of RNase E, RraA and RraB, have recently been discovered. Here, we report that coexpression of RraA or RraB reduces the ribonucleolytic activity in rne-deleted E. coli cells overproducing RNase ES, a Streptomyces coelicolor functional ortholog of RNase E, and consequently rescues these cells from growth arrest. These findings suggest that the regulators of ribonuclease activity have a conserved intrinsic property that effectively acts on an RNase E-like enzyme found in a distantly related bacterial species.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.85-87
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• 2003

$\beta$-Lactams are historically and clinically representative antibiotics used for therapeutic purposes. In early days, penicillin (penam antibiotic) and cephalosporin (cephem antibiotic) were found in culture broth of two different filamentous fungi, Penicillium chrysogenum and Acremonium chrysogenum. Since 1970, a variety of $\beta$-lactam structures have been discovered from bacterial cultures including Streptomyces species, which are known as cephamycin, cephabacin (cephem antibiotics), clavulanic acid (oxopenam antibiotic), thienamycin (carbapenem antibiotic), and sulfazecin (monobactam antibiotic). (omitted)

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.396-403
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• 2014

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) is an economically valuable pharmaceutical crop in Korea. In order to find promising biocontrol agents for soil-borne fungal pathogens which infect ginseng roots, we have isolated actinomycete, BK185 from soil. The isolate was investigated for the antifungal activity against to ginseng rot pathogens prior to testing genetic and chemical properties. The strain was identified as Streptomyces sp. using phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence. The most closely related species was S. sporoclivatus and S. geldanamycininus with high similarities (>99%). The isolate, BK185 showed positive reaction for PCR detection targeting biosynthetic gene clusters of PKS (Type-I polyketide synthase) and NRPS (Non-ribosomal polypeptide synthetase) genes. Major metabolite from the BK185 was analyzed by The LC/MS and identified to geldamycin, which was known to contained broad antibacterial, antifungal or anticancer activities. The results provide evidences that the strain, BK185 can be promising biocontrol agent for ginseng organic farming.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.26 no.4 s.73
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• pp.229-237
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• 1987

In order to study the biological control of soil-borne disease of sesame, antagonistic isolates of Trichoderma , Bacillus sand streptomyces to Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani were isolated from the rhizosphere soils of sesame plants and some other habitats. Out of the isolates of microorganisms collected a strain of Trichoderma viride was selected as a biological control agent for the study and its effect on the control of damping-off and the seedling growth of sesame was investigated. The results obtained are as follows: 26 percents of Bacillus spp. isolated from the rhizosphere soil of sesame plants showed antagonism to two pathogenic fungi. Important species were B. Subtilis and B. polymyxa. Streptomyces species isolated from the rhizosphere soils of sesame lysed the cell wall of hyphae and conidia of F. oxysporum and reduced conspicuously the formation of macroconidia and chlamydospores of the fungus. 84 percents of Trichoderma spp. isolated from the rhizosphere soil of sesame plants were antagonistic to F. oxysporum and 60 percents of the isolates were antagonistic to both F. oxysporum and R. solani. Trichoderma viride TV-192 selected from antagonistic isolates of Trichoderma spp. was highly antagonistic to F. oxysporum and soil treatment with the isolate reduced notably damping-off of sesame. T. viride TV-192 showed better growth in crushed rice straw, barley straw and sawdust media than F. oxysporum. Sawdust was selective for the growth of T. viride. Supplementation of wheat bran and mixtures of wheat bran and sawdust inoculated with T. viride TV-192 in the soil reduced remarkably damping-off of sesame by F. oxysporum but high density of the fungus TV-192 caused the inhibition of seed germination and seedling growth of sesame. Inhibitory effects of Trichoderma species on seed germination and seedling growth of sesame were different according to the isolates of the fungus. Normal sesame seedlings on the bed treated with the fungus showed better growth than not treated seedlings.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.156-164
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• 2013

Actinomycetes produce diverse secondary metabolites which have the primary importance in medicine, agriculture and food production, and key to this is their ability to interact with other organisms in natural habitats. In this study, we have investigated the taxonomical and functional diversity of actinomycetes in fecal sample of rhinoceros beetle larvae (Allomyrina dichotoma L.) by using culture-dependent and -independent approaches. For the culture-independent approach, the community DNA was extracted from the sample and 16S rRNA genes of actinomycetes were amplified using actinomycetes-specific PCR primers. Thirty-seven clones were classified into 15 genera and 24 species of actinomycetes. For the culture-dependent approach, 53 strains were isolated from larval feces, of which 27 isolates were selected based on morphological characteristics. The isolates were classified into 4 genera and 14 species, and 24 isolates (89%) were identified as the genus Streptomyces. Many of the representative isolates had antimicrobial activities against plant pathogenic fungi and Gram-positive bacteria. In addition, most of the isolates (78%) showed biochemical properties to hydrolyze cellulose and casein. The results demonstrated that diverse and valuable actinomycetes could be isolated from insect fecal samples, indicating that insect guts can be rich sources for novel bioactive compounds.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1517-1526
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• 2018

Investigating bacterial diversity and its metabolic capabilities is crucial for interpreting the ecological patterns in a desert environment and assessing the presence of exploitable microbial resources. In this study, we evaluated the spatial heterogeneity of physicochemical parameters, soil bacterial diversity and metabolic adaptation at meter scale. Soil samples were collected from two quadrats of a desert (Thar Desert, India) with a hot, arid climate, very little rainfall and extreme temperatures. Analysis of physico-chemical parameters and subsequent variance analysis (p-values < 0.05) revealed that sulfate, potassium and magnesium ions were the most variable between the quadrats. Microbial diversity of the two quadrats was studied using Illumina bar-coded sequencing by targeting V3-V4 regions of 16S rDNA. As for the results, 702504 high-quality sequence reads, assigned to 173 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at species level, were examined. The most abundant phyla in both quadrats were Actinobacteria (38.72%), Proteobacteria (32.94%), and Acidobacteria (9.24%). At genus level, Gaiella represented highest prevalence, followed by Streptomyces, Solirubrobacter, Aciditerrimonas, Geminicoccus, Geodermatophilus, Microvirga, and Rubrobacter. Between the quadrats, significant difference (p-values < 0.05) was found in the abundance of Aciditerrimonas, Geodermatophilus, Geminicoccus, Ilumatobacter, Marmoricola, Nakamurella, and Solirubrobacter. Metabolic functional mapping revealed diverse biological activities, and was significantly correlated with physicochemical parameters. The results revealed spatial variation of ions, microbial abundance and functional attributes in the studied quadrats, and patchy nature in local scale. Interestingly, abundance of the biotechnologically important phylum Actinobacteria, with large proposition of unclassified species in the desert, suggested that this arid environment is a promising site for bioprospection.