• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.171-179
• /
• 2016

Recent succession of soil microorganisms and vegetation has occurred in the glacier foreland, because of glacier thawing. In this study, whole microbial communities, including bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, from the glacier foreland of Midtre Lovénbreen in Svalbard were analyzed by metagenome sequencing, using the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) platform. Soil samples were collected from two research sites (ML4 and ML7), with different exposure times, from the ice. A total of 2,798,108 and 1,691,859 reads were utilized for microbial community analysis based on the metagenomic sequences of ML4 and ML7, respectively. The relative abundance of microbial communities at the domain level showed a high proportion of bacteria (about 86−87%), whereas archaeal and eukaryotic communities were poorly represented by less than 1%. The remaining 12% of the sequences were found to be unclassified. Predominant bacterial groups included Proteobacteria (40.3% from ML4 and 43.3% from ML7) and Actinobacteria (22.9% and 24.9%). Major groups of Archaea included Euryarchaeota (84.4% and 81.1%), followed by Crenarchaeota (10.6% and 13.1%). In the case of eukaryotes, both ML4 and ML7 samples showed Ascomycota (33.8% and 45.0%) as the major group. These findings suggest that metagenome analysis using the Ion Torrent PGM platform could be suitably applied to analyze whole microbial community structures, providing a basis for assessing the relative importance of predominant groups of bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic microbial communities in the Arctic glacier foreland of Midtre Lovénbreen, with high resolution.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.55-68
• /
• 2010

The seasonal variation of microbial community, based on the bacteria, heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF), phytoplankton and ciliates, was investigated at three sites in the eutrophic brackish water of Lake Shihwa and its adjacent areas from May 2007 through May 2008. At the upstream-region site St. 1, compared to the other two sites, significantly lower salinities and higher concentrations of nutrients and chlorophyll $\alpha$ (Chl. $\alpha$) were recorded. The annual average abundances of bacteria at St. 1, St. 2 and St. 3 were $6.8{\times}10^6$, $7.4{\times}10^6$ and $4.6{\times}10^6\;cells\;mL^{-1}$, respectively. As for the annual average concentrations of HNF, $19{\times}10^2$, $6.7{\times}10^2$ and $5.9{\times}10^2\;cells\;mL^{-1}$, were recorded in St. 1, St. 2 and St. 3 respectively. The highest ciliate abundance appeared at St. 1 on 29 April, 2008 and in which, 99% were autotrophic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum (Myrionecta rubra). Significant linear correlations between the biomass of bacteria and Chl. $\alpha$ were found, however, no significant relationships between ciliates abudance/biomass and their prey organisms were detected in all three sites, implying relatively low energy transfer efficiencies between them. These results indicated that the trophic relationship between ciliates and their prey organisms in the microbial community might be influenced by indirect route since higher trophic level organisms did not directly correlate to those of lower trophic level, although high primary productions were detected in the eutrophic brackish water of Lake Shihwa and its adjacent areas.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.70 no.6
• /
• pp.490-497
• /
• 2011

Background: It is difficult but important to differentiate between bacterial and viral infections, especially for respiratory infections. Hence, there is an ongoing need for sensitive and specific markers of bacterial infections. We investigated novel biomarkers for discriminating community acquired bacterial pneumonia from 2009 H1N1 influenza A infections. Methods: This was a prospective, observational study of patients with community acquired bacterial pneumonia, 2009 H1N1 Influenza A infection, and healthy controls. Serum samples were obtained on the initial visit to the hospital and stored at $-80^{\circ}C$. We evaluated CRP (C-reactive protein), PCT (procalcitonin), LBP (lipopolysaccharide-binding protein) and copeptin. These analytes were all evaluated retrospectively except CRP. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analyses were performed on the resulting data. Results: Enrolled patients included 27 with community acquired bacterial pneumonia, 20 with 2009 H1N1 Influenza A infection, and 26 who were healthy controls. In an ROC analysis for discriminating community acquired bacterial pneumonia from 2009 H1N1 influenza A infection, areas under the curve (AUCs) were 0.799 for CRP (95% Confidence interval [CI], 0.664~0.934), 0.753 for PCT (95% CI, 0.613~0.892) and 0.684 for LBP (95% CI, 0.531~0.837). Copeptin was not different among the three groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that serum CRP, PCT and LBP can assist physicians in discriminating community acquired bacterial pneumonia from 2009 H1N1 influenza A infection.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.27 no.spc
• /
• pp.51-63
• /
• 2022

In this study, the TPH(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) contamination and microbial ecological characteristics in petroleum-contaminated site were investigated through the correlation among the vertical TPH contamination distribution of the site, the geochemical characteristics, and the indigenous microbial ecology. The high TPH concentration showed in the vicinity of 3~4 m or less which is thought to be affected by vertical movement due to the impervious clay layer. In addition, the TPH concentration was found to have a positive correlation with Fe²⁺, TOC concentration, and the number of petroleum-degrading bacteria, and a negative correlation with the microbial community diversity. The microbial community according to the vertical distribution of TPH showed that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes at the phylum level were dominant in this study area as a whole, and they competed with each other. In particular, it was confirmed that the difference in the microbial community was different due to the difference in the degree of vertical TPH contamination. In addition, the genera Acidovorax, Leptolinea, Rugoshibacter, and Smithella appeared dominant in the samples in which TPH was detected, which is considered to be the microorganisms involved in the degradation of TPH in this study area. It is expected that this study can be used as an important data to understand the contamination characteristics and biogeochemical and microbial characteristics of these TPH-contaminated sites.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.312-317
• /
• 2015

Pyrosequencing of 16S rDNA tags was used to obtain the bacterial diversity and community structure in the uncultured seawaters as well as in the cultured seawaters, which were collected from the 7 ports (Cheonbu, Hyunpo, Taeha, Namyang, Sadong, Dodong, and Jeodong) and 1 seashore (Guam) around the Ulleng island, Korea. Alphaproteobacteria were the most abundant group in the clean seawaters such as seawaters of Taeha and Sadong ports. Gammaproteobacteria proportion increased depending upon the wastewater amounts mixed with the seawaters such as seawaters of Namyang, Dodong, and Jeodong ports. The genuses of Alteromonas (from samples of Cheonbu, Taeha, Guam, Namyang, Sadong), Shewanella (from sample of Jeodong), and Vibrio (from samples of Hyunpo and Dodong) were dominant group in each of the cultured seawaters incubated in marine broth (Difoco). The results suggest that the incoming wastewaters to the port seawaters contribute to the dynamic change of the marine bacterial community around the Ulleng island.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.47-51
• /
• 2015

Biocatalytic degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in contaminated soil by hemoglobin and hydrogen peroxide is an effective soil remediation method. This study used a laboratory soil reactor experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a nonspecific biocatalytic reaction with hemoglobin and H₂O₂ for treating TPH-contaminated soil. We also quantified changes in the soil microbial community using real-time PCR analysis during the experimental treatment. The results show that the measured rate constant for the reaction with added hemoglobin was 0.051/day, about 3.5 times higher than the constant for the reaction with only H₂O₂ (0.014/day). After four weeks of treatment, 76% of the initial soil TPH concentration was removed with hemoglobin and hydrogen peroxide treatment. The removal of initial soil TPH concentration was 26% when only hydrogen peroxide was used. The soil microbial community, based on 16S rRNA gene copy number, was higher (7.1 × 10⁶ copy number/g of bacteria, and 7.4 × 10⁵ copy number/g of Archaea, respectively) in the hemoglobin catalyzed treatment. Our results show that TPH treatment in contaminated soil using hemoglobin catalyzed oxidation led to the enhanced removal effectiveness and was non-toxic to the native soil microbial community in the initial soil.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.585-591
• /
• 2014

To evaluate the potential utility of pretreatment of raw biomass with a complex microbial system, we investigated the degradation of rice straw by BMC-9, a lignocellulose decomposition strain obtained from a biogas slurry compost environment. The degradation characteristics and corresponding changes in the bacterial community were assessed. The results showed that rapid degradation occurred from day 0 to day 9, with a peak total biomass bacterium concentration of $3.3{\times}10^8$ copies/ml on day 1. The pH of the fermentation broth declined initially and then increased, and the mass of rice straw decreased steadily. The highest concentrations of volatile fatty acid contents (0.291 mg/l lactic acid, 0.31 mg/l formic acid, 1.93 mg/l acetic acid, and 0.73 mg/l propionic acid) as well as the highest xylanse activity (1.79 U/ml) and carboxymethyl cellulase activity (0.37 U/ml) occurred on day 9. The greatest diversity among the microbial community also occurred on day 9, with the presence of bacteria belonging to Clostridium sp., Bacillus sp., and Geobacillus sp. Together, our results indicate that BMC-9 has a strong ability to rapidly degrade the lignocelluloses of rice straw under relatively inexpensive conditions, and the optimum fermentation time is 9 days.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.30 no.8
• /
• pp.1195-1206
• /
• 2020

Beringraja pulchra, Cham-hong-eo in Korean, is a mottled skate which is belonging to the cartilaginous fish. Although this species is economically valuable in South Korea as an alkaline-fermented food, there are few microbial studies on such fermentation. Here, we analyzed microbial changes and pH before, during, and after fermentation and examined the effect of inoculation by a skin microbiota mixture on the skate fermentation (control vs. treatment). To analyze microbial community, the V4 regions of bacterial 16S rRNA genes from the skates were amplified, sequenced and analyzed. During the skate fermentation, pH and total number of marine bacteria increased in both groups, while microbial diversity decreased after fermentation. Pseudomonas, which was predominant in the initial skate, declined by fermentation (Day 0: 11.39 ± 5.52%; Day 20: 0.61 ± 0.9%), while the abundance of Pseudoalteromonas increased dramatically (Day 0: 1.42 ± 0.41%; Day 20: 64.92 ± 24.15%). From our co-occurrence analysis, the Pseudoalteromonas was positively correlated with Aerococcaceae (r = 0.638) and Moraxella (r = 0.474), which also increased with fermentation, and negatively correlated with Pseudomonas (r = -0.847) during fermentation. There are no critically significant differences between control and treatment. These results revealed that the alkaline fermentation of skates dramatically changed the microbiota, but the initial inoculation by a skin microbiota mixture didn't show critical changes in the final microbial community. Our results extended understanding of microbial interactions and provided the new insights of microbial changes during alkaline fermentation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.792-797
• /
• 2012

Glomalin-related soil protein has been suggested as an enhancer for soil stability by promoting the aggregation. In this study, we examined the concentrations of glomalin and characteristics of microbial community in 20 paddy soils sampled from Gyeongnam Province. Total soil glomalin as glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) had a significant positive correlation with soil organic matter (p<0.01) and soil dehydrogenase activity (p<0.01). The concentration of GRSP significantly correlated to soil microbial biomass carbon (p<0.001) and the total bacterial community (p<0.01) in paddy soils. In addition, the GRSP had a significant positive correlation with gram-negative bacteria community (p<0.05) and ratio of cy19:0 to 18:$1{\omega}7c$ (p<0.05) in paddy soils. In conclusion, the concentration of GRSP could be an indicator of soil health that simplify the inspection steps for sustainable agriculture in paddy soils.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.170-179
• /
• 2017

Tea is the most popular beverage in the world. In fact, there are mainly three different kinds of tea (Green tea, black tea, and post-fermented tea). Post-fermented tea is produced by the microbial fermentation process using sun-dried green tea leaves (Camellia sinensis) as the raw material. Chungtaejeon was a traditional tea introduced in the age of the ancient three states and is the only "Ddeok-cha or Don-cha" culture in the world that survived on the southwestern shore of Republic of Korea. In this study, the structures of the bacterial community involved in the production of oriental traditional post-fermented tea (Chungtaejeon) were investigated using 16S rRNA gene analysis. The 16S rRNA gene analysis of dominant microbial bacteria in post-fermented tea confirmed the presence of Pantoea sp., and Klebsiella oxytoca. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the taxonomic affiliation of the dominant species in the post-fermented tea was ${\gamma}$-proteobacteria. As a result of the microbial community size analysis, it was confirmed that the size of the microbial communities of Chungtaejeon was the largest compared to other teas