• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.379-386
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• 1998

Deterioration of food is in general caused by the presence of microorganisms and chemical compounds of food itself. There exists antimicrobial compound in the food, however, addition of food antiseptics, additives, or physico-chemical processing is a common practice. The safety of artificial chemical antiseptics became a serious public concern, therefore, new natural antiseptic compounds are in need to be developed. We have isolated a new natural antifungal protein (KBS-B2) from Astragal seed through ammonium sulfate precipitation and column chromatography using FPLC Mono-S and Superose 12HR. The purified protein inhibited growth of Candida albicans, and spore germination of food spoiling fungi such as Aspergillus ochraceus, Penicillium expensum, P. digitatum and Botrytis cineria. Antifungal effect of the KBS-B2 protein could be directly assayed by bioautography overlaying the fungal spores on the electrophoresed acrylamide gel. The comparison of N-terminal amino acid sequences of the KBS-B2 with known antifungal protein revealed that had 50% homology to thaumatin and zeamatin like proteins.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.453-458
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: Coleosporium plectranthi, an obligate parasite, which is responsible for the rust disease of Perilla frutescens, a plant in Korea, commonly known as Perilla. All rusts are obligate parasites, meaning that they require a living host to complete their life cycle. They generally do not kill the host plant but can severely reduce growth and yield. Food and feed spoilage fungi cause great economic losses worldwide. It is estimated that between 5 and 10% of the world food production is wasted due to fungal deterioration. Rust disease of Perilla is highly frequent and is widely spread in Korea. The present study was designed to investigate a novel media for the urediniospore germination in vitro and anti-rust activity as well as GC-MS analysis of oak pyroligneous liquor. METHOD AND RESULTS: Urediniospores were collected from the infected leaf of Perilla. Spore suspension was made and the suspension was inoculated in the 2% water agar media with proper humidity, then they were incubated at $26^{\circ}C$ for 56 hrs. The GC-MS analysis of the oak pyroligneous liquor was also done to check the chemical composition. GC-MS analysis of the wood vinegar was found 15 compounds, among them o-mthoxyphenol (25.93%), 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (16.06%), 4-methylenecyclohexanone (10.69%), 2,3-dihydroxytoluene (7.84%), levoglucosane (6.14%) and propanoic acid (5.32%) were the major components. Different concentration of the oak pyroligneous liquor was used, and spore inhibition was recorded on the basis of spore counting. The best results were noted at the concentration of 50% solution where 31.8% spores were inhibited. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the chemical composition of the oak pyroligneous liquor and the activity recorded we can use it as an anti-rust agent.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.798-803
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• 2015

This study was conducted to predict the effect of door opening in wooden cultural heritages (WCHs) on their conservation environment. For this prediction, measured relative humidity (RH) and surface wood moisture content (MC) of inner part of wood columns in open wooden building and neighboring closed wooden building were compared with minimum RH, including the duration of minimum RH, and MC required for spore germination and resultant growth of wood-degrading fungi reported in some literatures. Moisture conditions, namely RH of inside wooden building and MC of wood was unsuitable for decay and sap-stain fungi all the year round; however, moisture conditions during summer season was suitable for spore germination and resultant growth of surface mold fungi, regardless of door opening. When compared, the duration of minimum (75%) or higher RH and the number of wood columns with MC level greater than the minimum MC (15%) during summer season, the surface mold related to the conservation environment of inside wooden building was somewhat better in open building than in closed building. Rather, doors should be opened in closed building for reducing indoor RH as a necessary measure during summer season when outdoor RH is high.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.152-166
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• 2020

Background: Ginsenosides, which have various physiological activities, are known to be abundant in the leaves and roots of ginseng. Ginseng sprouts can be used as a fresh vegetable and roots, stems, and leaves of ginseng can be consumed. This study aimed to investigate the effect of carbon dioxide treatment and the modified atmosphere (MA) packaging method in suppressing quality deterioration during the distribution of ginseng sprouts. Methods and Results: Ginseng sprouts were packed using Styrofoam, barrier film + non gas treatment, barrier film + gas treatment, 15 ㎛ polyamide (PA) double film + non gas treatment, 15 ㎛ PA double film + gas treatment, 25 ㎛ PA film + non gas treatment, or 25 ㎛ PA film + gas treatment. Quality parameters including gas composition, relative humidity, chlorophyll SPAD (Soil Plant Analysis Development) value, firmness, and rate of quality loss in ginseng sprouts were monitored at the following temperatures: 20℃, and 10℃. Ginseng sprouts packaged with 25 ㎛ PA film showed loss in quality because of wilting owing to low relative humidity within the film. Chlorophyll and firmness did not differ between film and gas treatments. The time point at which the combined loss from softening and decay owing to fungal, and bacterial infection and wilt reached 20% was considered the limit of distribution. At 20℃, the packaging not included in the 20% distribution loss rate limit or up to 7 days was 15 ㎛ PA double film + gas treatment. At 10℃, the packaging not included in the 20% distribution loss rate limit for up to 18 days were barrier film + gas treatment and 15 ㎛ PA double film + gas treatment. Conclusions: The film packaging suitable for the distribution of ginseng sprouts was found to be the barrier film and PA film with low gas permeability and maintaining hygroscopicity at 95% relative humidity. To prevent the loss in quality of ginseng sprouts, gas treatment (8% of O₂ and 18% of CO₂) in the film was found to be more suitable than no gas treatment for inhibition of decay.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.841-846
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• 2011

This study was conducted to obtain the information about injury caused by continuous cropping of peony (Paeonia lactiflora). Soil physico-chemical properties, characteristics of microbial distribution and diversities in the continuous cropped field with peony were analyzed. As the results, pH and organic matter content were higher in the continuous cropping soil than those in the first cropping soil. Bulk density was decreased but porosity was increased in the continuous cropping soil. As the cultivation period was lengthened in years, the populations of bacteria and actinomyces were gradually decreased, whereas fungal population was increased. It was shown that the metabolic diversity patterns of the microbial communities in the continuous cropping soil differed from that of the first cropping soil. These results indicate that deterioration of soil quality such as physico-chemical properties including a soil depth, bulk density, porosity and soil pH is related with a continuous cultivation periods, and also affect a microbial population, especially fungi.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.261-265
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• 2010

Lichens, a symbiotic organism of fungi and algae, cause serious damage to national heritages of stone master piece and costly trees for gardening. The present study was conducted to screen effective fungicides against lichen-forming fungi to control the biological agents deteriorating stone heritages and trees. Five commercial fungicides (Fenarimol EC, Etridiazole EC, Iminoctadinetriacetate SL, Difenoconazole+lminocatadinetriacetate ME and Difenoconazole+Azoxystrobin SC) were tested against the lichen-forming fungi (LFF) isolated from seven saxicolous (Caloplaca sp., Ramalina sp., Xanthoparmelia sp., and Xanthoria sp.,) or corticolous (Parmelia sp.,) lichen species. Preliminary screening test showed that no LFF could grow on the MY (malt-yeast extract) agar medium amended with the recommended concentrations of each fungicide. Further screening was conducted at 1%, 10% and 20% of the recommended concentrations of the fungicides. After 7 week incubation at $15^{\circ}C$ in the dark, Difenoconazole+Iminocatadinetriacetate ME and Difenoconazole+Azoxystrobin SC completely inhibited the fungal growth of all the tested LFF, even at 1% of the concentration. Two fungicides of Fenarimol EC and Iminoctadinetriacetate SL exhibited a moderate inhibition activity at the lower concentrations. Etridiazole EC was less effective in the fungal growth inhibition than the other four fungicides. The results suggested that lichens colonizing on precious stone heritages and trees can be eradicated by applying Difenoconazole+Iminocatadinetriacetate ME and Difenoconazole+Azoxystrobin SC even 1% of the recommended concentrations. Selected fungicide application at such a low concentration will facilitate the chemical use to prevent and preserve stone heritages from biological deterioration induced by lichens and the allied microbes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.237-242
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• 2015

The use of calcite-forming bacteria (CFB) in crack remediation and durability improvements in construction materials creates a permanent and environmentally-friendly material. Therefore, research into this type of application is stimulating interdisciplinary studies between microbiology and architectural engineering. However, the mechanisms giving rise to these materials are dependent on calcite precipitation by the metabolism of the CFB, which raises concerns about possible hazards to cement-based construction due to microbial metabolic acid production. The aim of this study was to determine target microorganisms that possibly can have bio-corrosive effects on cement mortar and to assess multi-functional CFBs for their safe application to cement structures. The chalky test was first used to evaluate the $CaCO_3$ solubilization feature of construction sites by fungi, yeast, bacterial strains. Not all bacterial strains are able to solubilize $CaCO_3$, but C. sphaerospermum KNUC253 or P. prolifica KNUC263 showed $CaCO_3$ solubilization activity. Therefore, these two strains were identified as target microorganisms that require control in cement structures. The registered patented strains Bacillus aryabhatti KNUC205, Arthrobacter nicotianae KNUC2100, B. thuringiensis KNUC2103 and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KNUC2106, reported as multifunctional CFB (fungal growth inhibition, crack remediation, and water permeability reduction of cement surfaces) and isolated from Dokdo or construction site were unable to solubilize $CaCO_3$. Notably, B. aryabhatti KNUC205 and A. nicotianae KNUC2100 could not hydrolyze cellulose or protein, which can be the major constituent macromolecules of internal materials for buildings. These results show that several reported multi-functional CFB can be applied to cement structures or diverse building environments without corrosive or bio-deteriorative risks.