• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2013

In this study, euryhaline marine microorganism, Bacillus sp. strain EBW4 isolated from polychaete (Perinereis aibuhitensis) of Suncheon Bay was physiologically, biochemically and genetically characterized. Based on 16S rRNA sequence, EBW14 was found to share 98.25% similarity with Bacillus hemicentroti $JSM076093^T$, 97.96% similarity with Bacillus hwajinponensis SW-$72^T$ and 96.28% similarity with B. algicoa $KMM3737^T$, respectively. The temperature range for the growth of strain EBW4 was $4-40^{\circ}C$, NaCl concentration range 0-17% and pH range pH 5-9, revealing that EBW4 was euryhaline bacterium. Major fatty acids in strain EBW4 were composed of anteiso $C_{15:0}$ (48.2%), iso $C_{16:0}$ (12.1%), anteiso $C_{17:0}$ (11.6%) and iso $C_{14:0}$ (9.4%). EBW4 was found to have DNase, amylase, protease and lipase for the degradation of macromolecules such as DNA, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, etc. The enzyme activities of alkaline phosphatase, esterase (C4), leucine arylamidase and ${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin were also found in strain EBW4. Analysis of the biodegradation ability of EBW4 for organic hydrocarbons under different salinity conditions using synthetic water waste revealed that EBW4 exhibited the ability to degrade organic hydrocarbons very quickly, suggesting strain EBW4 may be a good candidate for the application to various industries.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.141-150
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• 2015

Thirty-two actinomycetes isolates from Korean forest soil were screened for their nematicidal and reproduction suppression activity against pine wood nematode (PWN) which is widely spread in Korea. Culture filterates of 21 isolates showed more than 90% mortality at 2-fold concentration. Among them, AM210, SG16, YD116 and YD315 were more effective than others on reproduction of PWN. The YD116 isolate was identified as Streptomyces atratus by morphological and 16S rDNA analyses. Hydrazine hydrate, similar to hydrazidomycin which has cytotoxicity among substances from S. atratus against PWN, was tested for its nematicidal activity. Ten ppm of the hydrate showed 60.8% mortality. Additional studies are needed for practical use of the S. atratus YD116 isolate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1467-1475
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• 2015

The use of microbial extracts containing plant hormones is a promising technique to improve crop growth. Little is known about the effect of bacterial cell-free extracts on plant growth promotion. This study, based on phytohormonal analyses, aimed at exploring the potential mechanisms by which Enterococcus faecium LKE12 enhances plant growth in oriental melon. A bacterial strain, LKE12, was isolated from soil, and further identified as E. faecium by 16S rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The plant growth-promoting ability of an LKE12 bacterial culture was tested in a gibberellin (GA)-deficient rice dwarf mutant (waito-C) and a normal GA biosynthesis rice cultivar (Hwayongbyeo). E. faecium LKE12 significantly improved the length and biomass of rice shoots in both normal and dwarf cultivars through the secretion of an array of gibberellins (GA₁, GA₃, GA₇, GA₈, GA₉, GA₁₂, GA₁₉, GA₂₀, GA₂₄, and GA₅₃), as well as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study indicating that E. faecium can produce GAs. Increases in shoot and root lengths, plant fresh weight, and chlorophyll content promoted by E. faecium LKE12 and its cell-free extract inoculated in oriental melon plants revealed a favorable interaction of E. faecium LKE12 with plants. Higher plant growth rates and nutrient contents of magnesium, calcium, sodium, iron, manganese, silicon, zinc, and nitrogen were found in cell-free extract-treated plants than in control plants. The results of the current study suggest that E. faecium LKE12 promotes plant growth by producing GAs and IAA; interestingly, the exogenous application of its cell-free culture extract can be a potential strategy to accelerate plant growth.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1999

Numerous observations revealed strong evidence of increased middle ultraviolet radiation or UV-B (280 ~ 320 nm) at the earth's surface resulting from stratospheric ozone depletion. UV is the waveband of electromagnetic radiation which is strongly absorbed by nucleic acids and proteins, thus causing damage to living systems. It has been recorded in the East Sea, Korea that solar UV-B impinging on the ocean surface penetrates seawater to significant depths. Recent researches showed that exposure to UV-B for as short as 2h at the ambient level (2.0 Wm$^{-2}$) decreased macroalgal growth and photosynthesis and destroyed photosynthetic pigments. These may suggest that UV-B could be an important environmental factor to determine algal survival and distribution. Some adaptive mechanisms to protect macroalgae from UV-damage have been found, which include photoreactivation and formation of UV-absorbing pigments. Post-illumination of visible light mitigated UV-induced damage in laminarian young sporophytes with blue the most effective waveband. The existence of UV-B absorbing pigments has been recognized in the green alga, Ulva pertusa and the red alga, Pachymeniopsis sp., which is likely to exert protective function for photosynthetic pigments inside the thalli from UV-damage. Further studies are however needed to confirm that these mechanisms are of general occurrence in seaweeds. Macroalgae together with phytoplankton are the primary producers to incorporate about 100 Gt of carbons per year, and provide half of the total biomass on the earth. UV-driven reduction in macroalgal biomass, if any, would therefore cause deleterious effects on marine ecosystem. The ultimate impacts of increasing UV-B flux due to ozone destruction are still unknown, but the impression from UV studies made so far seems to highlight the importance of setting up long-term monitoring system for us to be able to predict and detect the onset of large -scale deterioration in aquatic ecosystem.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.125-129
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• 2011

Environmental risk assessment (RA) is essential prior to the environmental release of GM crops. RA, however, costs at least 7 to 15 million US dollars and requires several years to complete field tests. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that developers of GM crops must consider all criteria for RA at the beginning stage of the development if it aims for commercialization. Previous review papers have pointed out that the "death valley" for the commercialization of GM crops is the screening stage of early GM events since many candidates are given up due to insufficient data on the molecular characterization of a GM event such as inserted gene's copy number, position of inserted site of a chromosome, flanking sequence of recombinant T-DNA, rearrangement of chromosome, and knock out of endogenous gene of host plant. Recently, Rural Development Administration (RDA) in South Korea has launched a Grand National Project named as "Next Generation of BioGreen 21 Project" from 2011 to 2020 and research funding for the development of global GM crops has been allocated to accelerate the commercialization of GM crops. In this regard, I strongly suggest that researchers involved in the development of GM crops for commercialization must conduct RA by themselves at the screening stage of pre-GM event based on the data for molecular characterization.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1179-1185
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• 2018

Recently, Sargassum horneri, the marine weed inhabiting the shoreline, beach, and littoral sea area, has caused serious damage to intensive aquaculture farms particularly those around Jeju Island, South Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the diversity of microorganisms in Sargassum horneri and to provide basic data on ecological problems by identifying microbial functions. A total of 88 isolates were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum accounting for 88%, including class ${\alpha}-proteobacteria$, six genera, and ten species. The dominating genus, Pseudobacter, accounted for 40% in Pseudorhodobacter, 20% in Paracoccus, and the remaining at 10% each were Rhizobium, Albirhodobacter, Skermanella, and Novosphingobium. Class ${\beta}-proteobactera$ included five genera and ten species. Genus Hydrogenophaga accounted for 50%, while genus Azoarcus accounted for 20%, and the remaining Oxalicibacterium, Duganella, and Xenophilus were 10% each. Class ${\gamma}-proteobacteria$ with 13 genera and 57 species, accounted for 74% in phylum Proteobacteria, 23% in Shewanella, 19% in Cobetia, 12% in Pseudomonas, 4% each in Vibrio and Serratia, and 2% each in Rheinheimera, Raoultella, Pantoea, Acinetobacter, Moraxella, and Psychrobacter genera. In addition, Actinobacteria with two species of Nocardioides genera accounted for 50%, and Bacteroidetes accounted for 33%, with three genera and five species that included Lacihabitans and Mariniflexile. The remaining Dyadobacter, Cellulophaga, and Ferruginibacter genera each accounted for 11%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1290-1297
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• 2008

To investigate the diversities of Accumulibacter phosphatis and its polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase gene (phaC) in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) sludge, an acetate-fed sequencing batch reactor was operated. Analysis of microbial communities using fluorescence in situ hybridization and 16S rRNA gene clone libraries showed that the population of Accumulibacter phosphatis in the EBPR sludge comprised more than 50% of total bacteria, and was clearly divided into two subgroups with about 97.5% sequence identity of the 16S rRNA genes. PAO phaC primers targeting the phaC genes of Accumulibacter phosphatis were designed and applied to retrieve fragments of putative phaC homologs of Accumulibacter phosphatis from EBPR sludge. PAO phaC primers targeting $G_{1PAO},\;G_{2PAO},\;and\;G_{3PAO}$ groups produced PCR amplicons successfully; the resulting sequences of the phaC gene homologs were diverse, and were distantly related to metagenomic phaC sequences of Accumulibacter phosphatis with 75-98% DNA sequence identities. Degenerate NPAO (non-PAO) phaC primers targeting phaC genes of non-Accumulibacter phosphatis bacteria were also designed and applied to the EBPR sludge. Twenty-four phaC homologs retrieved from NPAO phaC primers were different from the phaC gene homologs derived from Accumulibacter phosphatis, which suggests that the PAO phaC primers were specific for the amplification of phaC gene homologs of Accumulibacter phosphatis, and the putative phaC gene homologs by PAO phaC primers were derived from Accumulibacter phosphatis in the EBPR sludge. Among 24 phaC homologs, a phaC homolog (GINPAO-2), which was dominant in the NPAO phaC clone library, showed the strongest signal in slot hybridization and shared approximately 60% nucleotide identity with the $G_{4PAO}$ group of Accumulibacter phosphatis, which suggests that GINPAO-2 might be derived from Accumulibacter phosphatis. In conclusion, analyses of the 16S rRNA and phaC genes showed that Accumulibacter phosphatis might be phylogenetically and metabolically diverse.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.463-470
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• 2018

Restoration ecology is the practical study of renewing and restoring a spoilt, degraded, or devastated ecosystems in the environment. Because the Korean industry has been drastically developed for the past few decades, the Korean ecosystem requires restoration using regional seed. In this study, we identified the variation of phylogenic relationship of Miscanthus sinensis or Phragmites australis by locations in Korea. Chloroplast DNA atpF-H and psbA-trnH interspace region were used as a molecular marker to resolve the phylogenic relationship in 10 different locations. We performed the molecular phylogenetic analysis with 10 chloroplast DNAs from each location using Kimura 2-parameter. The analysis of Miscanthus showed that all atpF-H genes were exact matches except for Ose san. In contrast to Mischanthus, the atpF-H genes from Phragmites were observed to have more variation. A total of 7 locations revealed the variation in chloroplast gene. According to the phylogenic tree in Phragmites, 2 of 10 samples in 6 locations and 3 of 10 in 1 location showed variation with 0.160-0.181 genetic distance. According to the genetic distance of the Miscanthus sinensis, there were no mutations in all regions except the Hongsung. These results support regional differences and show the necessity for seed collection by region. In the case of Phragmites australis, genetic variation occurred in all regions.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2007

The bacterial diversity inherent to the biofilm community structure of a modified rotating biological contactor wastewater treatment process, referred to as the Rotating Activated Bacillus Contactor (RABC) process, was characterized in this study, via both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. On the basis of culture-dependent methods, Bacillus sp. were found to exist in large numbers on the biofilm (6.5% of the heterotrophic bacteria) and the microbial composition of the biofilms was quite simple. Only three phyla were identified-namely, the Proteobacteria, the Actinobacteria (High G+C Gram-positive bacteria), and the Firmicutes (Low G+C Gram-positive bacteria). The culture-independent partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed a considerably more diverse microbial composition within the biofilms. A total of eight phyla were recovered in this case, three of which were major groups: the Firmicutes (43.9%), the Proteobacteria (28.6%), and the Bacteroidetes (17.6%). The remaining five phyla were minor groups: the Planctomycetes (4.4%), the Chlorobi (2.2%), the Actinobacteria (1.1%), the Nitrospirae (1.1%), and the Verrucomicrobia (1.1%). The two most abundant genera detected were the endospore-forming bacteria (31.8%), Clostridium and Bacillus, both of which are members of the Firmicutes phylum. This finding indicates that these endospore-forming bacteria successfully colonized and dominated the RABC process biofilms. Many of the colonies or clones recovered from the biofilms evidenced significantly high homology in the 16S rDNA sequences of bacteria stored in databases associated with advanced wastewater treatment capabilities, including nitrification and denitrification, phosphorus accumulation, the removal of volatile odors, and the removal of chlorohydrocarbons or heavy metals. The microbial community structures observed in the biofilms were found to correlate nicely with the enhanced performance of advanced wastewater treatment protocols.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.74-78
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• 2007

Purpose : Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic multisystemic autoimmune disease with complex clinical manifestations. It probably involves genetic, environmental and immunologic factors. In this study, we investigated the clinical manifestations, laboratory findings and prognosis of pediatric SLE to aid clinical care of pediatric SLE. Methods : The data of 45 patients who were diagnosed as pediatric SLE in Severance Children's Hospital from Jan. 1996 to Dec. 2005 were analysed retrospectively. Results : The mean age at diagnosis was 10.8 (0-15) years old. And the ratio of male to female patients was 1:4. The initial manifestations were facial edema (51.1 percent), malar rash (44.4 percent), and fever (28.9 percent). The ANA (97.8 percent), anti-ds DNA antibody (82.2 percent), lupus nephritis (71.1 percent), malar rash (71.1 percent), and cytopenia (66.7 percent) were the most common findings among the classification criteria by ACR (American College of Rhematology, 1997). Conclusion : Clinical manifestations and prognosis are various in pediatric SLE. Intensive studies of SLE in children should be continued for more effective treatment.