• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2 s.112
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• pp.181-187
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• 2005

For 4 years (2000 ${\sim}$ 2003), annual fluctuations of standing crops of cyanobacteria and physicochemical factors were examined at five sites from Bridge of Seungsoo to Bridge of Seungsan in the lower part of Han River. The cyanobacterial abundance (ND to 4,167 cells $mL^{-1}$) was strongly decreased during the heavy rains in every year. During the similar periods in 2003, cyanobacteria hardly observed, and comprised below of 10 percentage of total phytoplankton. In the period of little cyanobacteria, some green algae and diatom dominated the phytoplankton community, while the concentration of chlorophyll a has not largely change. These results indicate that heavy frequent precipitation strongly limited the growth of cyanobacteria, and lead an algal succession by the appearance of new algal groups.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.1 s.89
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• pp.9-22
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• 2000

The decomposition processes of Microcystis aeruginosa under the light and dark conditions were investigated in relation to the change of microcystins, physicochemical and biological factors. Cyanobacterial cells from upper stream of Lake Dae-chong were collected and incubated in the matrix of raw water under the light and dark conditions without additional nutrients. The decomposition of Microcystis cells started from beginning of the experiment and most of the cells were decomposed on 12th day. Under the light condition the concentration of toxins in filtrate fractionwas increased with the increase of viscosity as the decomposition of algal cells proceed whereas no significant change was observed under the dark condition. Microcystin- RR was most labile toxin than the other two microcystins because it was identified mainly in lyophilized cells but detected at trace level in the filtratefraction.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.264-274
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• 2008

Seasonal variations of cyanobacterial toxins (microcystins) in Yeongehun reservoir were studied from March to December, 2007. High level of microcystins production was shown during the late autumn and winter seasons. Total microcystins concentration increased sharply when the dominant species changed from Anabaena sp. to Microcystis aeruginosa. Microcystins-RR and -YR were the main components of the microcystins, whereas microcystin-LR was detected in small quantities. Especially, large amounts of microcystin-LR were detected when standing crops of M. aeruginosa increased exponentially. Total microcystins concentration showed a negative correlation with water temperature. However, total microcystins were lowly correlated with other environmental factors except for water temperature. As a result, this study clearly demonstrated that M. aeruginosa was the main producer of microcystins in Yeongchun reservoir.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2011

This study was purposed to develop an effective LC/MS/MS method for simultaneously determining five pre-treated cyanotoxins (anatoxin-a, microcystins-RR, -YR, -LR and -LA) of cyanobacteria blooms. Cyanobacterial bloom samples were collected from 11 major lakes and three downstream areas of river around Korea during 2005~2009. Cyanotoxins were identified in 38 samples from the lakes. The validity of the method was evaluated and the recovery rates were found ranging from 83~87%. The MDL turned out to be $0.046\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ for anatoxin-a and $0.066\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ for microcystins (RR, YR, LR and LA), which indicates that the method has high sensitivity and accuracy. The most dominant genus of the cyanobacterial blooms was Microcystis, which accounted for 71% of the analysed samples. Microcystis also contained the largest amount of microcystins ($398.5\;{\mu}g\;gDW^{-1}$) among the analyzed cyanobacteria. The analysis of the five cyanotoxins showed that anatoxin-a ranged between $0{\sim}41.833\;{\mu}g\;gDW^{-1}$ and microcystins ranged between $6.311{\sim}2,148.786\;{\mu}g\;gDW^{-1}$. Among the microcystins, micocystin-RR took up 58.3%, the largest portion. Anatoxin-a was found to account for 77.8% of the samples. This study has its significance in that it allowed the establishment of toxin criteria appropriate for the Korean water systems. Further studies may be necessary to conduct for improving water treatment methods.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.20-28
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• 2013

Photobiological hydrogen production by nitrogen-fixing unicellular cyanobacteria has long been considered to be an environmentally sound and very promising method for the future supply of renewable clean energy. Using six Korean nitrogen-fixing unicellular cyanobacterial strains and the Synechococcus sp. strain Miami BG043511 we performed cultivation experiments to find out the strain-specific optimal temperature for population growth and $H_2$ production. Under $20^{\circ}C$ the population growth of all the tested strains was significantly retarded in contrasts to the faster and higher growth under 25, 30 or $35^{\circ}C$. The highest growth rates in all the 7 strains were measured under $30^{\circ}C$ while the maximal biomass yields were under $30^{\circ}C$ (strains CB-MAL 026, 054, and 055) or $35^{\circ}C$ (strains 002, 031, 058, and Miami BG043511). The difference between the maximal biomass yields at $30^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$ was not greater than 10%. The quantity of photobiologically produced $H_2$ was only slight larger under $35^{\circ}C$ than that under $20^{\circ}C$. Our result may suggest a two-step process of $H_2$ production which includes rapid and sizable production of biomass at $30^{\circ}C$ and the following high $H_2$ production at $20^{\circ}C$ by the test strains of marine nitrogen-fixing unicellular cyanobacteria.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2009

Among various microscopic organisms producing photobiological hydrogen, cyanobacteria have long been recognized as the promising biological agents for hydrogen economy in 21 century. For photobiological production of hydrogen energy, marine unicellular $N_2$-fixing cyanobacteria have been evaluated as an ideal subgroup of Cyanophyceae. To develope the hydrogen production technology using unicellular $N_2$-fixing cyanobacteria, 3 important factors are pre-requisite: 1) isolation of the best strain from marine natural environment, 2) exploration on the strain-specific optimal conditions for the photobiological hydrogen production, and finally 3) application of the molecular genetic tools to improve the natural ability of the strain to produce hydrogen. Here we reviewed the recent research & development to commercialize photobiological hydrogen production technology, and suggest that intensive R&D during next 10-15 years should be imperative for the future Korean initiatives in the field of the photobiological hydrogen production technology using photosynthetic marine unicellular cyanobacterial strains.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.1428-1436
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• 2023

The three Gram-negative, catalase- and oxidase-positive bacterial strains RS43^T, HBC28, and HBC61^T, were isolated from fresh water and subjected to a polyphasic study. Comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequence initially indicated that strains RS43^T, HBC28, and HBC61^T were closely related to species of genus Curvibacter and shared the highest sequence similarity of 98.14%, 98.21%, and 98.76%, respectively, with Curvibacter gracilis 7-1^T. Phylogenetic analysis based on genome sequences placed all strains within the genus Curvibacter. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between the three strains and related type strains supported their recognition as two novel genospecies in the genus Curvibacter. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that the genus possessed an open pangenome. Based on KEGG BlastKOALA analyses, Curvibacter species have the potential to metabolize benzoate, phenylacetate, catechol, and salicylate, indicating their potential use in the elimination of these compounds from the water systems. The results of polyphasic characterization indicated that strain RS43^T and HBC61^T represent two novel species, for which the name Curvibacter microcysteis sp. nov. (type strain RS43^T =KCTC 92793^T=LMG 32714^T) and Curvibacter cyanobacteriorum sp. nov. (type strain HBC61^T =KCTC 92794^T=LMG 32713^T) are proposed.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.356-361
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• 2007

Cyanobacteria are a very old group of prokaryotic organisms that produce very diverse secondary metabolites, especially non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide structures. Although some cyanobacteria produce lethal toxins such as microcystins and anatoxins, some may be useful either for development into commercial drugs or as biochemical tools. Detection of unknown secondary metabolites was carried in the present study by a screening of 98 cyanobacterial strains from Cyanobiotech GmbH in order to establish a screening process, isolate pure substances and determine their bioactivities. A degenerated polymerase chain reaction technique as molecular approaches has been used for general screening of NRPS gene and PKS gene in cyanobacteria. A putative PKS gene was detected by DKF/DKR primer in 38 strains (38.8%) and PCR amplicons resulted from a presence of NRPS gene were showed by MTF2/MTR2 primer in 30 strains (30.6%), respectively. A screening of interesting strains was performed by comparing PCR screening results with HPLC analyses of extracts. HPLC analysis for a detection of natural products was performed in extracts from biomass. 5 strains were screened for further scale-up processing. 7 pure substances were isolated from the scale-up cultures and tested for bioactivities under consideration to purity, amount and molecular weight of substances. One substance isolated from CBT 635 showed cytotoxic activity. This substance may be regarded as Microcystin LR.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2015

To set up unicellular cyanobacterial strains with photo-biological $H_2$ production potential, live samples were repeatedly collected from 68 stations in the coastal zone of Korea for the four years since 2005. Among 77 cyanobacterial strains established six (KNU strains, CB-MAL002, 026, 031, 054, 055 and 058) were finally chosen as the excellent strains for $H_2$ production with $H_2$ accumulation over 0.15 mL $H_2\;mL^{-1}$ under general basic $H_2$ production conditions as well as positive $H_2$ production for more than 60 hr. To explore optimum procedures for higher $H_2$ production efficiency of the six cyanobacterial strains, the inter-strain differences in the growth rate under the gradients of water temperature and salinity were investigated. The maximum daily growth rates of the six strains ranged from 1.78 to 2.08, and all of them exhibited $N_2-fixation$ ability. Based on the similarity of the 16S rRNA sequences, all the test strains were quite close to Cyanothece sp. ATCC51142 (99%). The six strains, however, were grouped into separate clades from strain ATCC51142 in the molecular phylogeny diagram. Chlorophyll- a content was 3.4~7.8% of the total dried weight, and the phycoerythrin and phycocyanin contents were half of those in the Atlantic strain, Synechococcus sp. Miami BG03511. The growth of the six strains was significantly suppressed at temperatures above the optimal range, $30{\sim}35^{\circ}C$, to be nearly stopped at $40^{\circ}C$. The growth was not inhibited by high salinities of 30 psu salinity in all the strains while strain CB055 maintained its high growth rate at low salinities down to 15 psu. The euryhaline strains like CB055 might support massive biotechnological cultivation systems using natural basal seawater in temperate latitudes. base seawater. The biological and ecophysiological characteristics of the test strains may contribute to designing the optimal procedures for photo-biological $H_2$ production by unicellular cyanobacteria.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.spc
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• pp.68-76
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• 2008

This study examined the inhibition effects of a freshwater bivalve (Unio douglasiae) and a submerged plant (Potamogeton crispus) on the cyanobacterial bloom (Oscillatoria sp.). The experiment were conducted in aquarium $(50cm{\times}65cm{\times}120cm)$ with lake sediments in the bottom of the aquarium in 10 cm thick. Before the experiments, artificial cyanobacterial bloom was induced with the addition of lake sediment and CB medium. Total 12 transparent acrylic cylinders (${\Phi}19cm$, height 40 cm) were placed in the aquarium, and within which bivalves and plants were placed in various conditions such as the control (C), plant addition (P:5 stems), mussel addition (U:2 individuals), and both mussel and plant addition (PU: the same quantity as used in each treatment). The experiment was conducted in triplicate during 7 days. pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), electric conductivity (EC), salinity, cyanobacterial cell density, chlorophyll-${\alpha}$ concentration, and mussel filtering rate were monitored daily. At the end of the experiment, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and plant height and weight were measured. Overall, a large degree of cyanobacterial growth inhibition appeared in both P and U treatments, and the effect was highest in the U treatment, followed by P and PU. The combined treatment of both U and P did not show any synergic effects compared to the effect in separated treatment. In all enclosures of the treatments chlorophyll-${alpha}$ (Chl-${alpha}$) concentration decreased until 36 hours after the additions of the plants and mussels. In contrast, Chl-${alpha}$ concentrations increased in PU enclosures after 36 hours. The same trend was shown in the cell density of Oscillatoria. pH and DO gradually decreased until 120 and 144 hours, respectively, in the P and PU enclosures. TP concentration increased in the mussel enclosures (U and PU), while TN concentration largely decreased in the plant enclosures (P and PU). Our results suggest that applied bivalve (Unio) and submerged plant (Potamogeton) seemed to have a potential effect on the growth inhibition of cyanobacteria, but their combined application may have an antagonistic effect to diminish the degree of the inhibition.