• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.93-98
• /
• 2002

Effect of reducing agent sodium hydrosulfite on the natural indigo on the silk fabrics were examined to improve traditional dyeing method. K/S values of dyed fabrics was monitored with various dyeing temperature time, amount of dye and reducing agent. The dyeability of silk fabrics was improved by using reducing agent, sodium hydrosulfite; K/S value (7.20) was higher then that (1.09) of traditional method at the frist dyeing. Natural indigo dye extracted from dyed silk fabrics are composed of isomer, indigo (67.3%) and indirubin (32.5%). However, silk fabrics showed excellent anti-microbial activity regardless of the dyeing methods.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.178-184
• /
• 1996

Dryfilm method by using 3M Petrifilm$^{TM}$ has been examined to replace conventional agar method for isolation of microorganisms from foods. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate suitability of dryfilm method as a microbial isolation method and to determine the effect of antimicrobial agent on dryfilm for isolation of microorganisms from foods. Five different foods, milk, ground beef, fishery surimi, Takju and wheat flour were used to isolate the natural microflora in foods and the inoculated Escheri chia coli. Standard method agar (SMA, Difco) and Petrifilm$^{TM}$ aerobic count (PAC, 3M) were used to isolate total microorganisms from foods. Violet red bile agar (VRBA), brilliant green lactose bile (BGLB) broth and Petrifilm$^{TM}$ coliform count (PCC, 3M) were used to isolate coliforms from foods. E. coli broth (EC broth) and Petrifilm$^{TM}$ E. coli count (PEC, 3M) were used to isolate E. coli from foods. Acidified potato dextrose agar (APDA) and Petrifilm$^{TM}$ yeast & mold count (PYMC, 3M) were used to isolate yeasts and molds from foods. Total aerobic plate counts isolated from five different foods by SMA and PAC (3M) were riot significantly different each other at P<0.05 level and were highly correlated each other ($\geq$0.96). Mugwort extract as an antimicrobial agent did not affect microbial enumeratiion of Dryfilm. Significantly higher number of coliform colonies were formed on VRBA than PCC (3M) from ground beef, but they were not significantly different in coliform colonies from milk samples. PCC (3M) and BGLB were not significantly different for enumeration of coliforms in milk and beef samples. Significantly higher number of E. coli were isolated by EC broth than PEC from ground beef, but these were not significontly different for enumeration of E. coli from milk. Yeast and mold counts isolated from Takju and wheat flour by APDA and PYMC (3M) were not significantly different at P<0.05 level. These data indicate that dryfilm method by using 3M Petrifilm$^{TM}$ can be successively used as an alternative to conventional agar method for enumeration of microorganisms in various foods.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.311-319
• /
• 1999

Leaves of Aloe vera Linne and bloods of domestic animal were composted in a soild state fermentation reactor (SSFR) by using microbial additive including a bulking and moisture controlling agent. From solid-culture of microbial additive, 10 species of bacteria and 10 species of fungi were isolated and, their enzyme activities including amylase, carboxy methyl cellulase CMCase, lipase and protease were detected. Optimum fermentation conditions of Aloe leaves and domestic animal bloods in SSFR were obtained from the studies of response surface analysis employing microbial additive content, initial moisture content, and fermentation temperature as the independent variables. The optimum conditions for SSFR using Aloe leaves were obtained at 9.45$\pm$73%(w/w) of microbial additives, 62.73$\pm$4.54%(w/w) of initial moisture content and 55.32$\pm$3.14$^{\circ}C$ of fermentation temperature while those for SSFR using domestic animal bloods were obtained at 10.25$\pm$2.04%, 58.68$\pm$4.97% and 57.85$\pm$5.$65^{\circ}C$, respectively. Composting process in SSFR was initially proceeded through fermentation and solid materials were decomposed within 24 hours by maintaining higher moisture level, and maturing and drying steps are followed later. After the fermentation step, the concentrations of solid phase inorganic components were increased while that of organic components were decreased. Also, concentrations of total organic carbon(TOC), peptides, amino acids, polysaccharides, and low fatty acids in water extracts were increased. As fermentation in composting process depends on initial C/N ratios in water extracts of two samples were increased because of increased water-soluble TOC. From these results, it was revealed that solid state fermentation reactor using microbial additives can be used in composting process of organic wastes with broad C/N ratio.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.202-209
• /
• 2020

Organic farming is necessary to sustainable agriculture, preserve biodiversity and continued growth the sector in agriculture. In organic farming, reduced usage of chemical agents that adversely affect human health and environment, employing amino acids and oil cake fertilizer, plant extracts, and microbial agents are used to provide safe agricultural products to consumers. To investigation microbiome structure, we proceeded on the pepper plant with difference fertilizers and treatments in organic agriculture for three years. The microbial communities were analyzed by the next generation sequencing approach. Difference soil microbiota communities were discovered base on organic fertilizer agents. Occurrences of virus and anthracnose diseases had a low incidence in conventional farming, whereas bacteria wilt disease had a low incidence in microbial agents treated plots. Microbe agents, which applied in soil, were detected in the microbial community and the funding suggested the applied microbes successfully colonized in the organic farming environment.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.215-219
• /
• 2014

Background: Biological control of plant pathogens using benign or beneficial microorganisms as antagonistic agents is currently considered to be an important component of integrated pest management in agricultural crops. In this study, we evaluated the potential of Bacillus subtilis strain HK-CSM-1 as a biological control agent against Colletotrichum panacicola. Methods: The potential of B. subtilis HK-CSM-1 as a biological control agent for ginseng anthracnose was assessed. C. panacicola was inoculated to ginseng plants and the incidence and severity of disease was assessed to examine the efficacy of the bacterium as a biological control against C. panacicola. Results: Inoculation of Panax ginseng plants with B. subtilis significantly suppressed the number of disease lesions of C. panacicola and was as effective as the chemical fungicide iminoctadine tris(albesilate). The antifungal activity of B. subtilis against C. panacicola was observed on a co-culture medium. Interestingly, treatment with B. subtilis did not significantly affect the diameter of the lesions, suggesting that the mechanism of protection was through the reduction in the incidence of infection related to the initial events of the infection cycle, including penetration and infection via spore germination and appressorium formation rather than by the inhibition of invasive growth after infection. Conclusion: Our results suggest that B. subtilis HK-CSM-1 can be used as an effective and ecologically friendly biological control agent for anthracnose in P. ginseng.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.81-88
• /
• 2011

The anti-phytoplasma activities of surfactin (derived from Iranian native Bacillus subtilis isolates) and tetracycline towards Candidatus "Phytoplasma aurantifolia", the agent of lime Witches' broom disease, were investigated. HPLC was used to quantify the surfactin production in four previously characterized native surfactin-producing strains, and the one producing the highest amount of surfactin (about 1,500 mg/l) was selected and cultivated following optimized production and extraction protocols. Different combinations of purified surfactin and commercial tetracycline were injected into artificially phytoplasmainfected Mexican lime seedlings using a syringe injection system. An absolute quantitative real-time PCR system was developed to monitor the phytoplasma population shifts in the lime phloem during 3 months following the injections. The results revealed that the injections of surfactin or tetracycline had a significant inhibitory effect on Candidatus "P. aurantifolia". However, the combined treatment with both surfactin and tetracycline (1:1) resulted in the highest inhibition due to a synergic effect, which suppressed the phytoplasma population from about $2{\times}10^5$ to less than 10 phytoplasma units/g plant tissue.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.136-144
• /
• 2016

Pseudomonas fluorescens pc78 is an effective biocontrol agent for soil-borne fungal diseases. We previously constructed a P43-gfp tagged biocontrol bacteria P. fluorescens pc78-48 to investigate bacterial traits in natural ecosystem and the environmental risk of genetically modified biocontrol bacteria in tomato rhizosphere. Fluctuation of culturable bacteria profile, microbial community structure, and potential horizontal gene transfer was investigated over time after the bacteria treatment to the tomato rhizosphere. Tagged gene transfer to other organisms such as tomato plants and bacteria cultured on various media was examined by polymerase chain reaction, using gene specific primers. Transfer of chromosomally integrated P43-gfp from pc78 to other organisms was not apparent. Population and colony types of culturable bacteria were not significantly affected by the introduction of P. fluorescens pc78 or pc78-48 into tomato rhizosphere. Additionally, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism profiles were investigated to estimate the influence on the microbial community structure in tomato rhizosphere between non-treated and pc78-48-treated samples. Interestingly, rhizosphere soil treated with strain pc78-48 exhibited a significantly different bacterial community structure compared to that of non-treated rhizosphere soil. Our results suggest that biocontrol bacteria treatment influences microbial community in tomato rhizosphere, while the chromosomally modified biocontrol bacteria may not pose any specific environmental risk in terms of gene transfer.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.181-187
• /
• 2011

The overall objective of this study is to develop the engineering-friendly-methodology which can investigate the fate of antibiotic resistance in environment microbial community. For this purpose, effective concentration (EC) concept was adopted with cultural based method which is currently used in engineering practice. When a tetracyline antibiotic was present as selective pressure agent among microbial community, activated sludge, the $EC_{50}$ and/or $EC_{90}$ of tetracycline in microbial community were statistically increased compared to control, especially higher growth rate and organic loading conditions of SBRs. Therefore, these results strongly suggested that the continuous monitoring of EC in microbial community can be used for characterizing the fate of tetracycline resistance community in environmental samples.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.422-430
• /
• 2007

Clonostachys rosea (syn. Gliocladium roseum) is a well-known biocontrol agent and widely distributed around the world. In this study, an endochitinase gene Crchi1 was isolated from the mycoparasitic fungus C. rosea using the DNA walking strategy. The Crchi1 ORF is 1,746 bp long and interrupted by three introns. The cloned gene Crchi1 encodes 426 amino acid residues and shares a high degree of similarity with other chitinases from entomopathogenic and mycoparasitic fungi. Several putative binding sites for transcriptional regulation of Crchi1 in response to carbon (5'-SYGGRG-3') and nitrogen (5'-GATA-3') were identified in the upstream of Crchi1. Expression of Crchi1 gene in different carbon sources was analyzed using real-time PCR (RT-PCR). We found that the Crchi1 expression was suppressed by glucose but strongly stimulated by chitin or solubilized components of the cell wall from Rhizoctonia solani. Phylogenetic analysis of chitinases from entomopathogenic and mycoparasitic fungi suggests that these chitinases have probably evolved from a common ancestor.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.441-451
• /
• 2016

Squalene is a linear triterpene formed via the MVA or MEP biosynthetic pathway and is widely distributed in bacteria, fungi, algae, plants, and animals. Metabolically, squalene is used not only as a precursor in the synthesis of complex secondary metabolites such as sterols, hormones, and vitamins, but also as a carbon source in aerobic and anaerobic fermentation in microorganisms. Owing to the increasing roles of squalene as an antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory agent, the demand for this chemical is highly urgent. As a result, with the exception of traditional methods of the isolation of squalene from animals (shark liver oil) and plants, biotechnological methods using microorganisms as producers have afforded increased yield and productivity, but a reduction in progress. In this paper, we first review the biosynthetic routes of squalene and its typical derivatives, particularly the squalene synthase route. Second, typical biotechnological methods for the enhanced production of squalene using microbial cell factories are summarized and classified. Finally, the outline and discussion of the novel trend in the production of squalene with several updated events to 2015 are presented.