• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.23-32
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• 2012

This study was conducted to monitor microbial species dynamics within the aquifer due to long term operation of geothermal heat pump system. The species were identified by molecular biological methods of 16S rDNA. Groundwater sample was collected from both open (S region) and closed geothermal recovery system (J region) along with the control. J measured and control as well as S measured found Ralstonia pickettii as dominant species at year 2010. In contrast, Rhodoferax ferrireducens was dominantly observed for the control of S. In 2011, Sediminibacterium sp. was universely identified as the dominant species regardless of the monitoring places and type of sample, i.e., measured or control. The difference in the dynamics between the measured and the control was not critically observed, but annual variation was more strikingly found. It reveals that possible environmental changes (e.g. ORP and DO) due to the operation of geothermal heat recovery system in aquifer could be more exceedingly preceded to differentiate annual variation of microbial species rather than positional differences.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.14 no.1_2
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• pp.1-12
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• 1999

Recently, several new methods for the detection of genetic damages in vitro and in vivo based on molecular biological techniques were introduced according to the rapid progress in toxicology combined with cellular and molecular biology. Among these methods, mouse lymphoma thymidine kanase (tk) gene forward mutation assay, single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) and transgenic animal and cell line model as a target gene of lac I (Big Blue) and lac Z (Muta Mouse) gene mutation are newly introduced based on molecular toxicological approaches. The mouse lymphoma tk$\^$+/-/ gene assay (MOLY) using L5178Y tk$\^$+/-/ mouse lymphoma cell line is one of the mammalian forward mutation assays, and has many advantages and more sensitive than hprt assay. The target gene of MOLY is a heterozygous tk$\^$+/-/ gene located in 11 chromosome, so it is able to detect the wide range of genetic changes like point mutation, deletion, rearrangement, and mitotic recombination within tk gene or deletion of entire chromosome 11. The comet assay is a rapid, simple, visual and sensitive technique for measuring and analysing DNA breakages in mammalian cells, Also, transgenic animal and cell line models, which have exogenous DNA incorporated into their genome, carry recoverable shuttle vector containing reporter genes to assess endogenous effects or alteration in specific genes related to disease process, are powerful tools to study the mechanism of mutation in vivo and in vitro, respectively. Also in vivo acridine orange supravital staining micronucleus assay by using mouse peripheral reticulocytes was introduced as an alternative of bone marrow micronucleus assay. In this respect, there was an International workshop on genotoxicity procedure (IWGTP) supported by OECD and EMS (Environmental Mutagen Society) at Washington D. C. in March 25-26, 1999. The objective of IWGTP is to harmonize the testing procedures internationally, and to extend to finalization of OECD guideline, and to the agreement of new guidelines under the International Conference of Harmonization (ICH) for these methods mentioned above. Therefore, we introduce and review the principle, detailed procedure, and application of MOLY, comet assay, transgenic mutagenesis assay and supravital staining micronucleus assay.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.764-769
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• 2000

The lipase gene(lip) from Bacillus stearothermophilus was recombined in vitro by utilizing the DNA shuffling technique. After four rounds of shuffling, transformation, and screening based on the initial rate of clear zone formation on a tricaprylin plate, a clone (M10) was isolated, the cell extract of which showed about 2.8-fold increased lipase activity. The DNA sequence of the mutant lipase gene (m10) showed 3 base changes, resulting in two cryptic mutations and one amino acid substitution: S113($AGC{\rightarrow}AGT$), L252 ($TTG{\rightarrow}TTA$), and G275E ($GGA{\rightarrow}GAA$). SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the increased enzyme activity observed in M10 was partly caused by high expression of the m10 lipase gene. The amount of the expressed G275E lipase was estimated to comprise as much as 41% of the total soluble proteins of the cell. The maximum velocity ($V_{max}$) of the purified mutant enzyme for the hydrolysis of olive oil was measured to be 3,200 U/mg, which was 10% higher than that of the parental (WT) lipase (2,900 U/mg). Its optimum temperature for the hydrolysis of olive oil was $68^{\circ}C$ and it showed a typical $Ca^{2+}$-dependent thermostability, properties fo which were the same as those of the WT lipase. However, the mutant enzyme exhibited a high enantiospecificity towards (S)-naproxen compared with the WT lipase. In addition, it showed increased hydrolytic activity towards triolein, tricaprin, tricaprylin, and tricaproin.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2008

To find the optimum growth and metal removal condition of isolated strain LH2, effects of the environmental factors such as medium pH, growth temperature, and metal concentrations were investigated. Based on the 18S rDNA analysis, the isolated strain was identified to Exophiala sp. with 100% homology. Isolated strain Exophiala sp. LH2 showed maximum removal efficiency of metals at the shaking conditions of pH 7 and $25^{\circ}C$. When the concentration of metal was under 200ppm, the specific metal removal velocity at pH 7 increased from 0.01 to 4.43 mg-metal $L^{-1}{\cdot}d^{-1}{\cdot}mg{\cdot}DCW^{-1}$ as the concentration of metal increased from 10 ppm to 200 ppm. When 200 ppm of each metal was contained in the culture medium adjusted with pH 7, metal removal efficiencies Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were 99.28%, 97.67%, 91.94%, 99.77%, 99.61%, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.590-598
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• 2006

In-situ Air sparging (IAS) is a groundwater remediation technique, in which organic contaminants volatilize into air form the saturated to vadose zone. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of sludge and soil microbial community structure on air sparging of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) contaminated groundwater soils. In the laboratory, diesel (10,000 mg TPH/kg) contaminated saturated soil. The Air was injected in intermittent (Q=1500 mL/min, 10 minute injection and 10 minute idle) modes. For Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of eubacterial communities in sludge of wastewater treatment plants and soil of experiment site, the 16S rDNA was amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) from the sludge and the soil. The obtained 16S rDNA fragments were digested with Msp I and separated by electrophoresis gel. We found various sequence types for experiment with sludge soil samples that were closely related to Agrococcus, Flavobacterium, Thermoanaerobacter, Flexibacter and Shewanella, etc, in the clone library. The results of the present study suggests that T-RFLP method may be applied as a useful tool for the monitoring in the TPH contaminated soil the fate of microorganisms in natural microbial community.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2811-2819
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• 2016

Multiple genetic and environmental factors have been reported to play key role in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Here, we investigated interactions of XRCC1 Arg399Gln and XRCC2 Arg188His polymorphisms and environmental factors in modulating susceptibility to NPC in Northeast India. One-hundred NPC patients, 90 first-degree relatives of patients and 120 controls were enrolled in the study. XRCC1 Arg399Gln and XRCC2 Arg188His polymorphisms were determined using PCR-RFLP, and the results were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Logistic regression (LR) and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) approaches were applied for statistical analysis. The XRCC1 Gln/Gln genotype showed increased risk (OR=2.76; P<0.024) of NPC. However, individuals with both XRCC1 and XRCC2 polymorphic variants had 3.2 fold elevated risk (P<0.041). An enhanced risk of NPC was also observed in smoked meat (OR=4.07; P=0.004) and fermented fish consumers (OR=4.34, P=0.001), and tobacco-betel quid chewers (OR=7.00; P=0.0001) carrying XRCC1 polymorphic variants. However, smokers carrying defective XRCC1 gene showed the highest risk (OR = 7.47; P<0.0001). On MDR analysis, the best model for NPC risk was the five-factor model combination of XRCC1 variant genotype, fermented fish, smoked meat, smoking and chewing (CVC=10/10; TBA=0.636; P<0.0001); whereas in interaction entropy graphs, smoked meat and tobacco chewing showed synergistic interactions with XRCC1. These findings suggest that interaction of genetic and environmental factors might increase susceptibility to NPC in Northeast Indian populations.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.152-157
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• 2005

Strain Kw07$^T$, a Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, was isolated from granules in an Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) bioreactor used in the treatment of brewery waste­water. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain Kw07T belongs to the a-4 subclass of the Proteobacteria, and the highest degree of sequence similarity was determined to be to Sphingopyxis macrogoltabida IFO 15033T (97.8%). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that strain Kw07T possesses a quinone system with the predominant compound Q-I0, the predominant fatty acid C,s:, OJ7c, and sphingolipids, aU of which corroborated our assignment ofthe strain to the Sphingopyxis genus. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization and physiological and biochemical tests clearly demonstrated that strain Kw07T represents a distinct species. Based on these data, Kw07T (= KCTC 12209T = NBRC 100800T) should be classified as the type strain for a novel Sphingopyxis species, for which the name Sphingopyxis granuli sp. novo has been proposed.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.355-365
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• 2014

The enteric protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica is the causative agent of human amebiasis. During infection, adherence of E. histolytica through Gal/GalNAc lectin on the surface of the amoeba can induce caspase-3-dependent or -independent host cell death. Phosphorylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase C (PKC) in E. histolytica play an important function in the adhesion, killing, or phagocytosis of target cells. In this study, we examined the role of amoebic PI3K and PKC in amoeba-induced apoptotic cell death in Jurkat T cells. When Jurkat T cells were incubated with E. histolytica trophozoites, phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization and DNA fragmentation in Jurkat cells were markedly increased compared to those of cells incubated with medium alone. However, when amoebae were pretreated with a PI3K inhibitor, wortmannin before being incubated with E. histolytica, E. histolytica-induced PS externalization and DNA fragmentation in Jurkat cells were significantly reduced compared to results for amoebae pretreated with DMSO. In addition, pretreatment of amoebae with a PKC inhibitor, staurosporine strongly inhibited Jurkat T cell death. However, E. histolytica-induced cleavage of caspase-3, -6, and -7 were not inhibited by pretreatment of amoebae with wortmannin or staurosporin. In addition, we found that amoebic PI3K and PKC have an important role on amoeba adhesion to host compartment. These results suggest that amebic PI3K and PKC activation may play an important role in caspase-independent cell death in Entamoeba-induced apoptosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2001

To construct an efficient Bacillus subtilis expression vector, strong promoters were isolated from the chromosomal DNA libraries of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 4259, Thermoactinomyces sp. E79, and Bacillus thermoglucosidasius KCTC 3400. The $P_{C27}$ promoter cloned from the clostridial chromosmal DNA showed a 5-fold higher promoter strength than the $P_{SP02}$ promoter in the expression of the cat gene, and its sequence was estimated as an upstream region of the predicted hypothetical gene (tet-R family bacterial transcription regulator gene) in C. acetobutylicum. As a promoter element, $P_{C27}$ exhibited putative nucleotide sequences that can bind with bacterial RNAP and the 3'end of the 16S rRNA just upstream of the start codon. In addition, the promoter activity of $P_{C27}$ was distinctively repressed in the presence of glucose. Using $P_{C27}$ as the promoter element, a glucose controllable B. subtilis expression vector was constructed and the lipase gene from Staphylococcus haemolyticus KCTC 8957P was expressed in B. subtilis. When compared with the lipase expression by the T7 promoter induced by IPTG in E. coli, the $P_{C27}$ promoter showed about a 1.5-fold higher expression level in B. subtilis than that without induction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.672-678
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• 2014

In this study, variations of fermentative hydrogen production and microbial community were investigated with different nitrogen concentration of food waste. Optimum hydrogen production rate was acquired at 200 mg/L nitrogen concentration of the food waste. Which was eqivalent to 83.43 mL/g dry biomass/hr. However, bio-hydrogen production was inhibitedly reduced at over 600 mg/L of nitrogen concentration whereas proportional relation between hydrogen production and B/A ratio were not observed. Most dominant specie of the microbial community analyzed was Clostridium sp. throughout PCR-DGGE analysis of 16S rDNA. It revealed that most contributing microorganism producing hydrogen were Enterococcus faecium partial, Klebsiella pneumoniae strain ND6, Enterobacter sp. NCCP-231, and Clostridium algidicarnis strain E107 in this experiment.