• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.745-750
• /
• 2003

Zoogloea ramigera produces an extracellular polysaccharide called zooglan, which adsorbs heavy metals. In the current study, Zoogloea ramigera was cultured in media containing various carbon sources. When different carbon sources were included in the cultivation medium, there was a change in the composition of zooglan that is mainly composed of glucose, galactose, and pyruvic acid. The various zooglan compositions were analyzed by HPLC, and changes in the heavy metal (lead (II) and cadmium) adsorption characteristics relative to a change in the composition were examined using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. A high adsorption capacity was observed at a pH higher than 3.0. The adsorption of metal ions was the highest at $35^{\circ}C$, and a higher adsorption was obtained with a lower flow rate. Changes in the zooglan composition did result in changes in the heavy metal adsorption characteristics. Furthermore, it was also found that the pyruvic acid content was more important than the glucose or galactose content for heavy metal adsorption.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.337-345
• /
• 2005

The degradation of phenanthrene, a model PAH compound, by microorganisms either in the mixed culture or individual strain, isolated from oil-contaminated soil in oil refmery vicinity sites, was examined. The effects of pH, temperature, initial concentration of phenanthrene, and the addition of carbon sources on biodegradation potential were also investigated. Results showed that soil samples collected from four oil refinery sites in Korea had different degrees of PAH contamination and different indigenous phenanthrene-degrading microorganisms. The optimal conditions for phenanthrene biodegradation were determined to be 30$^{circ}C$ and pH 7.0. A significantly positive relationship was observed between the microbial growth and the rate of phenanthrene degradation. However, the phenanthrene biodegradation capability of the mixed culture was not related to the degree of PAH contamination in soil. In low phenanthrene concentration, the growth and biodegradation rates of the mixed cultures did not increase over those of the individual strain, especially IC10. High concentration of phenanthrene inhibited the growth of microbial strains and biodegradation of phenanthrene, but was less inhibitory on the mixed culture. Finally, when non-ionic surfactants such as Brij 30 and Brij 35 were present at the level above critical micelle concentrations (CMCs), phenanthrene degradation was completely inhibited and delayed by the addition of Triton X100 and Triton N101.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.23 no.7
• /
• pp.885-896
• /
• 2013

2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BDO) has immense industrial applications. Recently, microbial fermentation has emerged as an alternative way to produce this industrially important chemical. Although 2,3-BDO is produced by several microorganisms, the Klebsiella genera has an excellent production compared with other 2,3-BDO-producing microorganisms. In order to produce 2,3-BDO on a large scale, the challenges of removing pathogenic factors from Klebsiella pneumoniae need to be addressed. K. pneumoniae produces a number of virulence factors that contribute to its pathogenesis, including lipopolysaccharides, capsules, fimbrial adhesins, etc. Removal of these pathogenic factors from 2,3-BDO-producing Klebsiella strains will result in avirulent strains for the safe, economic, and efficient production of 2,3-BDO. In this review, we summarize the current trends in 2,3-BDO production using K. pneumoniae and insights into the removal of its virulence factors for industrial applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.419-428
• /
• 2019

Phytases are enzymes that can hydrolyze phytate and its salts into inositol and phosphoric acid, and have been utilized to increase the availability of nutrients in animal feed and mitigate environmental pollution. However, the enzymes' low thermostability has limited their application during the feed palletization process. In this study, a combination of B-value calculation and protein surface engineering was applied to rationally evolve the heat stability of Escherichia coli phytase. After systematic alignment and mining for homologs of the original phytase from the histidine acid phosphatase family, the two models 1DKL and 1DKQ were chosen and used to identify the B-values and spatial distribution of key amino acid residues. Consequently, thirteen potential amino acid mutation sites were obtained and categorized into six domains to construct mutant libraries. After five rounds of iterative mutation screening, the thermophilic phytase mutant P56214 was finally yielded. Compared with the wild-type, the residual enzyme activity of the mutant increased from 20% to 75% after incubation at $90^{\circ}C$ for 5 min. Compared with traditional methods, the rational engineering approach used in this study reduces the screening workload and provides a reference for future applications of phytases as green catalysts.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.193-199
• /
• 2017

This study was aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Penicillium purpurogenum ED76 on several clinically important microorganisms. The endophytic fungus P. purpurogenum ED76 was previously isolated from Swietenia macrophylla leaf. The antimicrobial efficacy of P. purpurogenum ED76 dichloromethane extract was determined via disc diffusion and broth microdilution assay. A kill curve study was conducted and the morphology of extract treated bacterial cells were viewed under scanning electron microscope. The dichloromethane extract showed significant inhibitory activity on 4 test bacteria and 2 test yeasts. The minimal inhibitory concentration of the extract ranged from 125 to $1,000{\mu}g/ml$, which indicates the different susceptibility levels of the test microorganisms to the fungal extract. The kill curve study has revealed a concentration-dependent inhibition for all test microorganisms. With the increase of the extract concentration, the microbial growth was significantly reduced. The scanning electron micrograph of dichloromethane extract-treated Staphylococcus aureus cells showed the total damage of the cells. The cell wall invagination of the bacterial cells also indicates the loss of cellular materials and metabolic activity. The gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis of the extract also showed that the major compound was stigmasterol, which constitutes 45.30% of the total area. The dichloromethane extract of P. purpurogenum ED76 exhibited significant inhibitory activity on several clinically important bacteria and yeasts. The study proposed a possible mode of action that the extract cause significant damage to the morphology of S. aureus cells.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.1311-1320
• /
• 2016

The fourth industrial revolution is currently proceeding and is expected to significantly affect the way individuals live and in result change the society in various aspects. The ICT-based convergence industries of the fourth industrial revolution contain various fields such as driverless cars, lighter and tougher materials, robotics, 3D printing and even biotechnology. This paper examines the researches done in fourth industrial revolution field based on the articles submitted to APIC-IST 2015. The topics from articles related to the fourth industrial revolution were categorized based on the keyword frequency of main issues. Results suggested that IoT and Wireless sensor network related researches were among the fields that the most researches were done in it and topics like nanotechnology, biotechnology, driverless cars, sharing economy and 3D printing were not mentioned at all. This paper also suggests necessary contents in the fourth industrial revolution to be focused on for further research in this field.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.31 no.9
• /
• pp.1311-1322
• /
• 2021

Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) has recently become an intelligent and environmentally friendly method for repairing cracks in concrete. To improve on this ability of microbial materials concrete repair, we applied random mutagenesis and optimization of mineralization conditions to improve the quantity and crystal form of microbially precipitated calcium carbonate. Sporosarcina pasteurii ATCC 11859 was used as the starting strain to obtain the mutant with high urease activity by atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) mutagenesis. Next, we investigated the optimal biomineralization conditions and precipitation crystal form using Plackett-Burman experimental design and response surface methodology (RSM). Biomineralization with 0.73 mol/l calcium chloride, 45 g/l urea, reaction temperature of 45℃, and reaction time of 22 h, significantly increased the amount of precipitated calcium carbonate, which was deposited in the form of calcite crystals. Finally, the repair of concrete using the optimized biomineralization process was evaluated. A comparison of water absorption and adhesion of concrete specimens before and after repairs showed that concrete cracks and surface defects could be efficiently repaired. This study provides a new method to engineer biocementing material for concrete repair.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.299-309
• /
• 2023

Glutathione peroxidases (Gpx) are a group of antioxidant enzymes that protect cells or tissues against damage from reactive oxygen species (ROS). The Gpx proteins identified in mammals exhibit high catalytic activity toward glutathione (GSH). In contrast, a variety of non-mammalian Gpx proteins from diverse organisms, including fungi, plants, insects, and rodent parasites, show specificity for thioredoxin (TRX) rather than GSH and are designated as TRX-dependent peroxiredoxins. However, the study of the properties of Gpx in the environmental microbiome or isolated bacteria is limited. In this study, we analyzed the Gpx sequences, identified the characteristics of sequences and structures, and found that the environmental microbiome Gpx proteins should be classified as TRX-dependent, Gpx-like peroxiredoxins. This classification is based on the following three items of evidence: i) the conservation of the peroxidatic Cys residue; ii) the existence and conservation of the resolving Cys residue that forms the disulfide bond with the peroxidatic cysteine; and iii) the absence of dimeric and tetrameric interface domains. The conservation/divergence pattern of all known bacterial Gpx-like proteins in public databases shows that they share common characteristics with that from the environmental microbiome and are also TRX-dependent. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis shows that the bacterial Gpx-like proteins exhibit a star-like radiating phylogenetic structure forming a highly diverse genetic pool of TRX-dependent, Gpx-like peroxidases.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.297-298
• /
• 2005

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.277-283
• /
• 2011

Glyoxalase I catalyzes the conversion of methylglyoxal to S-D-lactoylglutathione in the presence of glutathione. The structural gene of glyoxalase I (GLO1) was cloned from an osmotolerant yeast, Candida magnoliae, which produces a functional sweetener, erythritol, from sucrose. DNA sequence analysis revealed that the uninterrupted open reading frame (ORF) of C. magnoliae GLO1 (CmGLO1) spans 945 bp, corresponding to 315 amino acid residues, and shares 45.2% amino acid sequence identity to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Glo1. The cloned ORF in a multicopy constitutive expression plasmid complemented the glo1 mutation of S. cerevisiae, confirming that it encodes Glo1 in C. magnoliae. The responses of CmGLO1 to environmental stresses were different from those of S. cerevisiae, which only responds to osmotic stress. An enzyme activity assay and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction revealed that the expression of CmGLO1 is induced by stress inducers such as methylglyoxal, $H_2O_2$, KCl, and NaCl. The GenBank Accession No. for CmGLO1 is HM000001.