• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2013

A concerted effort to develop alternative forms of energy is underway due to fossil fuel shortages and its deleterious effects. Recently, bioenergy from microalgae has gained prominence and the use of municipal wastewater as a low cost alternative for a nutrient source has significant advantages. In this study, we have employed municipal wastewater directly after primary treatment (primary settling basin) in a small scale raceway pond (SSRP) for microalgal growth. Indigenous microalgae in the wastewater were encouraged to grow in the SSRP under optimal conditions. The mean removal efficiencies of TN, TP, and $NH_3-N$ after 6 days were 77.77%, 63.55%, and 89.02%, respectively. The average lipid content of the microalgae was 19.51% of dry cell weight, and linolenate and linoleate (18:n) were the predominant fatty acids. The 18S rRNA gene analysis and microscopic observations of the indigenous microalgae community revealed the presence of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus as the dominant microalgae. These results indicate that untreated municipal wastewater, serving as an excellent nitrogen and phosphate source for microalgal growth, could be treated using microalgae in open raceway ponds. Moreover, microalgal biomass could be further profitable by the extraction of biodiesel.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.238-246
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• 2015

A unicellular red microalga was isolated from environmental freshwater in Korea, and its morphological, molecular, and biochemical properties were characterized. Morphological analysis revealed that the isolate was a unicellular biflagellated green microalga that formed a non-motile, thick-walled palmelloid or red aplanospore. To determine the taxonomical position of the isolate, its 18S rRNA and rbcL genes were sequenced and phylogenetic analysis was performed. We found that the isolate was clustered together with other related Haematococcus strains showing differences in the rbcL gene. Therefore, the isolated microalga was classified into the genus Haematococcus, and finally designated Haematococcus sp. KORDI03. The microalga could be cultivated in various culture media under a broad range of pH and temperature conditions. Compositions of the microalgal cellular components were analyzed, and its protein, carbohydrate, and lipid compositions were estimated to be 21.1 ± 0.2%, 48.8 ± 1.8%, and 22.2 ± 0.9%, respectively. In addition, D-glucose and D-mannose were the dominant monosaccharides in the isolate, and its amino acids were composed mainly of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, alanine, and leucine. Moreover, several polyunsaturated fatty acids accounted for about 80% of the total fatty acids in Haematococcus sp. KORDI03, and the astaxanthin content in the red aplanospores was estimated to be 1.8% of the dry cell weight. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an Haematococcus sp. isolated from Korea, which may be used for bioresource production in the microalgal industry.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.200-207
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• 2017

A new approach to the solubilization of waste activated sludge (WAS) using alginate-quaternary ammonium complex beads was investigated under controlled mild alkaline conditions. The complex beads were prepared by the reaction of sodium alginate (SA) with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl-octadecyldimethylammonium chloride (TSA) in acid solution, followed by crosslinking with $CaCl_2$. Treatment of WAS with SA-TSA complex beads was effective for enhancing the efficacy of WAS solubilization. The highest value of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) concentration (3,900 mg/L) was achieved after 10 days of treatment with 30% (v/v) SA-TSA complex beads. The WAS solubilization efficacy of the complex beads was also evaluated by estimating the concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). The maximum value of VFAs was 2,961 mg/L, and the overall proportions of VFAs were more than 75% of SCOD. The main components of VFAs were acetic, propionic, iso-butyric, and butyric acids. These results suggest that SA-TSA complex beads might be useful for enhancing the solubilization of WAS. The potential use of VFAs as the external carbon substrate for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) by a mixed microbial culture (MMC) was also examined. The enrichment of PHA-accumulating MMC could be achieved by periodic feeding of VFAs generated from WAS in a sequencing batch reactor. The composition of PHA synthesized from VFAs mainly consisted of 3-hydroxybutyrate. The maximum PHA content accounted for 25.9% of dry cell weight. PHA production by this process is considered to be promising since it has a doubly beneficial effect on the environment by reducing the amount of WAS and concomitantly producing an eco-friendly biopolymer.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.442-448
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• 1993

The aims of the work were to examme the variability induced by EMS (ethyl methanesulfonate) mutagenesis of soybean plants, and to isolate mutants altered in nodulation and other growth characters. Seeds of two soybean cultivars, ‘Hwanggeumkong’ and ‘Baegunkong’ were treated with 30 and 50mM EMS(pH 7.0) for 6 hours and were planted directly in the field. Field emergency of$M_1 seed was averaged to be 61.0%, and frequency of plants with chlorophyll-deficient sectors of the first trifoliolate is about 0.7%. Regardless of varieties and does of EMS, $M_1 plant injury at harvest was present in plant height, pod and seed number per plant when compared to those of original-type soybean plants. The $M_2 variability of nodulation process induced by EMS treatment was found to be narrower than that of shoot dry weight. On the basis of the occurrence of chlorophyll-deficient plants, mutated cell frequency within $M_1 seed ranged from 5.3% to 84.2%, suggesting that mutation frequency on the $M_1 seed induced by EMS occurred partly and randomly regardless of varieties and doses of EMS. The putative mutant, which had more nodulation than original-type plant, was short in plant height. Sparse-nodulating soybean mutant was lower in leaf chlorophyll content and showed reduced growth.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.162-170
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• 2018

To improve the productivity of Pleurotus ostreatus, different conditions of liquid spawn culture were tested. The optimum culture conditions were potato dextrose broth, incubation temperature of $22^{\circ}C$, and pH 6. Fifteen different media ('A' to 'O') containing 0.3% soybean meal (SM) were prepared by varying sugar and glucose contents. The cultures were propagated in SM media for 14 days, at $22^{\circ}C$, and pH 6. Their absorbances were higher after 14 days of incubation in the media containing both sugar and glucose. In particular, the absorbance of media containing 5 to 20% of glucose alone ('C', 'D', 'E', and 'F') tended to increase in the incubation period. Dry cell weight was lower in media containing less than 20% sugar or glucose alone than in media containing 30% sugar ('A') or 30% glucose ('B') alone. In sawdust media, in 900 mL-bottle, the optimum inoculation volume of liquid spawn was 15 to 20 mL. The texture of the mushroom cultivated with the liquid spawn was superior to that cultivated in the solid spawn.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2012

In this study, dark fermentative hydrogen production (DFHP) from acid pretreated microalgal biomass was optimized with via statistical experimental design. Acid concentration and reaction time were varied from 0.1 to 3% (v/w) and 10 to 60 min with substrate concentration of 76 g dry cell weight (dcw)/L and initial pH of 7.4, respectively. During the fermentation, pH was not controlled. The optimal condition was found that at $H_{2}$ yield reached to 37.3 mL $H_{2}/g$ dcw at 1.2% HCl and 48 min. Through regression analysis, it was found that $H_{2}$ yield was well fitted by a quadratic polynomial equation ($R^{2}$=0.95). HCl concentration was the most significant factor influencing DFHP. The results of ANOVA verify that HCl concentration was the most significant factor influencing DFHP.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.235-243
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• 2006

The study was performed to identification of producing microbe Non-Cariogenicity Sugar (NCS; Fuc($1{\to}4$) gaINAc($2{\to}6$)NeuAc) with anti-caries activity, and to optimization of production condition. A typical strain which produced the NCS was identified alkalophilic Bacillus sp. S-1013 through the results of morphological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic characteristics and 16S rDNA sequencing. The optimal medium composition for the maximal production of the NCS from alkalophilic Bacillus sp. S-1013 was as follow: soluble starch 30 g, dextrin 15 g, yeast extract 5 g, peptone 10 g, $K_{2}HPO_4$ 2 g in a liter of distilled water. Optimal temperature and pH were 25 and 11.0, respectively. The highest production of NCS was shown 60 hrs cultivation using the optimal medium, and then NCS productivity and dry cell weight of culture broth increased 4.24 and 2.67 time than initial medium, respectively.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1764-1770
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• 2008

The goal of this study is to increase production of astaxanthin in recombinant Escherichia coli by engineered isoprenoid pathway. We have previously reported structural and functional analysis of the astaxanthin biosynthesis genes from a marine bacterium, Paracoccus haeundaensis. The carotenoid biosynthesis gene cluster involved in astaxanthin production contained six carotenogenic genes (crtW, crtZ, crtY, crtI, crtB, and crtE genes) and recombinant E. coli harboring six carotenogenic genes from P. haeundaensis produced 400 ${\mu}g$/g dry cell weight (DCW) of astaxanthin. In order to increase production of astaxanthin in recombinant E. coli, we have cloned 4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate reductase (lytB), farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) synthase (ispA), and isopentenyl (IPP) diphossphate isomerase (idi) in the isoprenoid pathway from E. coli and coexpressed these genes in recombinant E. coli harboring the astaxanthin biosynthesis genes. This engineered E. coli strain containing both isoprenoid pathway gene and astaxanthin biosynthesis gene cluster produced 1,200 ${\mu}g$/g DCW of astaxanthin, resulting 3-fold increased production of astaxanthin.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.289-302
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• 2011

Since the frequency of the earthquake occurrence in Korean peninsular is continuously increasing, the possibility that massive landslides are triggered by earthquake is also growing in Korea. Previously, the landslide is known to be induced by large magnitude earthquake, whose magnitude is larger than 6.0. However, the landslide can be induced by only small magnitude earthquake, especially in the fully saturated soil. Therefore, the susceptibility of landslide caused by small magnitude earthquake in fully saturated soil is analyzed in this study. For that, the topographical and geological characteristics of the site were obtained and managed by GIS software. In the procedure of the study, slope angle, cohesion, friction angle, unit weight of soil were obtained and constructed as a spatial database layer. Combining these data sets in a dynamic model based on Newmark's displacement analysis, the landslide displacements were estimated in each grid cell. In order to check out the possibility of the earthquake induced landslides, the level of the groundwater table is varied from dry to 80% saturated soil. In addition, in order to analyze the effect of the magnitude of earthquake and distance to epicenter, four different earthquakes epicenters were considered in the study area.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2020

This study was conducted to evaluate effects of dietary protease (PR) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs. A total of 75 weaned pigs [7.06 ± 0.18 kg of average body weight (BW); 28 day old] were randomly allotted to 3 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design (blocks = BW and sex): a diet based on corn and soybean meal to meet the requirement of crude protein (CP) as a positive control (PC; CP = 24.49%), a low protein diet as a negative control (NC; CP = 22.51%), and NC + 0.02% PR. The PR used in this study was a commercial product containing 75,000 protease units/g derived from Nocardiopsis prasina produced in Bacillus licheniformis. Pigs were fed the dietary treatments for 6 weeks and the diets containing 0.2% chromic oxide for the last week of this study. Blood, feces, ileal digesta, and ileum samples were collected from randomly selected two pigs in each pen on respective time points. Measurements were growth performance, apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), CP, and energy, frequency of diarrhea, packed cell volume (PCV), and ileal morphology of weaned pigs. Pigs fed PC and PR had higher (p < 0.05) final BW, average daily gain (ADG), and gain to feed ratio (G:F) during overall experimental period than those fed NC. Pigs fed PC and PR had higher (p < 0.05) AID or ATTD of DM, CP, or energy than those fed NC. Moreover, pigs fed PR had higher ratio between villus height and crypt depth (p < 0.05) and number of goblet cells (p < 0.05) than those fed NC. Addition of PR decreased (p < 0.05) frequency of diarrhea for the first two weeks after weaning compared with PC and NC. In addition, pigs fed PR had lower (p < 0.05) PCV on d 14 after weaning than those fed PC and NC. In conclusion, addition of PR in nursery diets with a low protein level significantly improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs.