• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.287-298
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• 2004

As a part of Korea Deep Ocean Study program, we investigated the distribution of planktonic protists in the upper 200 m of the northeast Pacific from $5^{\circ}N$ to $17^{\circ}N$, along $131^{\circ}30'W$. Area of divergence was formed at $9^{\circ}N$ which is boundaries of the north equatorial counter current (NECC) and the north equatorial current (NEC) during this cruise. Chlorophyll-a concentration was higher in NECC than in NEC area. Pico chl-a(<$2\;{\mu}m$) to total chl-a accounted for average 89% in the study area. The contribution of pico chl-a to total chl-a was relatively high in NEC area than in NECC area. Biomass of planktonic protists, ranging from 635.3 to $1077.3\;mgC\;m^{-2}$(average $810\;mgC\;m^{-2}$), was most enhanced in NECC area and showed distinct latitudinal variation. Biomass of HNF ranged from 88.7 to $208.3\;mgC\;m^{-2}$ and comprised 15% of planktonic protists. Biomass of ciliates ranged from 123.6 to $393.0\;mgC\;m^{-2}$ and comprised 25% of planktonic protists. Biomass of HDF ranged from 407.2 to $607.8\;mgC\;m^{-2}$ and comprised 60% of planktonic protists. HDF was the most dominant component in both NECC and NEC areas. Nano-protist biomass accounted for more than 50% of total protists in the both areas. The contribution of nanoprotist to total protists biomass was relatively higher in NEC area than in NECC. The biomass of planktonic protists was significantly correlated with phytoplankton biomass in this study area. The size structure of phytoplankton biomass coincided with that of planktonic protists. This suggested that the structure of the planktonic protists community and the microbial food web were dependent on the size structure of the phytoplankton biomass. However, biomass and size structure of planktonic protist communities might be significantly influenced by physical characteristics of the water column and food concentration in this study area.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.571-583
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• 2016

Biogenic amines are produced primarily by microorganisms found in fermented foods and are often implicated in poisoning incidents in humans. In this study, 620 strains of microorganisms were isolated from traditional Korean fermented food in Sunchang in order to screen for non-biogenicamine-producing microorganisms present in these foods. One strain was identified and named Bacillus subtilis SCJ1, by using 16S rRNA sequencing and biochemical characterization. We investigated the cell growth of this organism in order to understand its potential for industrial application. To this end, we optimized the culture medium constituents by using the response surface methodology. The Plackett-Burman experimental design was used for screening of the medium constituents, such as molasses, yeast extract and peptone, for improving cell growth. In order to determine the optimal concentration of each constituent, we used a central composite design. Consequently, the optimized concentrations of molasses, yeast extract and peptone were predicted to be 27.5 g/l, 7.5 g/l and 17.5 g/l, respectively. By model verification, we confirmed that a 1.49-fold increase in dry cell weight compared to the basal medium-from 1.32 g/l, to 1.9722 g/l-was achieved.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.919-929
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• 2020

Aromatic compounds are widely used in the chemical, food, polymer, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries and are produced by mainly chemical synthesis using benzene, toluene, and xylene or by plant extraction methods. Due to many rising threats, including the depletion of fossil fuels, global warming, the strengthening of international environmental regulations, and the excessive harvesting of plant resources, the microbial production of aromatic compounds using renewable biomass is regarded as a promising alternative. By integrating metabolic engineering with synthetic and systems biology, artificial biosynthetic pathways have been reconstituted from L-tryptophan biosynthetic pathway in relevant microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli and Corynebacterium glutamicum, enabling the production of a variety of value-added aromatic compounds, such as 5-hydroxytryptophan, serotonin, melatonin, 7-chloro-L-tryptophan, 7-bromo-L-tryptophan, indigo, indirubin, indole-3-acetic acid, violacein, and dexoyviolacein. In this review, we summarize the characteristics, usage, and biosynthetic pathways of these aromatic compounds and highlight the latest metabolic engineering strategies for the microbial production of aromatic compounds and suitable solution strategies to overcome problems in increasing production titers. It is expected that strain development based on systems metabolic engineering and the optimization of media and bioprocesses using renewable biomass will enable the development of commercially viable technologies for the microbial production of many aromatic compounds.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.251-258
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• 2005

Statistical analysis between operating parameters and effluent quality on advanced wastewater treatment plant was performed. Through factor analysis four factors derived varimax rotation were selected each plant. Four components explained $80\%,\;82\%$ of the total variance of the process, respectively. The components on MLE plant were identified in the following order: 1) HRT increase and BOD load decrease by influent decrease, 2) Biomass, 3) SVI increase by internal return increase, 4) Microbial diversity by SRT increase. On $A_2O$ plant, we defined them as follows: factor 1, high MLSS by return rate increase, HRT increase by influent decrease; factor 2, biomass; factor 3, BOD of influent; factor 4 was relate to DO.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.85-90
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• 1997

The objective of this study was to investigate biodegradation of TPA(terephthalic acid) and EG (ethylene glycol), treatment efficiency of polyester weight loss wastewater and microbial characteristics by aerated submerged biolfilm(ASB) p.rocess. In a batch reactor, pH increased from 7.0 to 8. 5 in the biodegradation of TPA. Whereas, in case of EG, decreased from 7.0 to 5.2. COD concentration rapidly decreased within 24hr in the biodegradation of TPA and EG. COD removal velocity constant(k) were 0.065-0.088 hr$^{-1}$. The biodegradation velocity of TPA was 1.4 times faster than that of EG. The ratio of suspended biomass to the total biomass in the reactor was 18.3-33.3%, increased as a high ratio of EG content. Biofilm thickness, biofilm dry density and attached biomass were 346-432 $\mu$m, 41.8-61.9 mg/cm$^3$, 1.45-2.67 mg/cm$^2$, respectively. There values increased as a high ratio of TPA content. In the hydraulic retention time of 36 hr, organic loading rate of 4 kgCOD/m$^3\cdot$ day and packing ratio of 70%, the effluent concentrations of TCOD, SCOD in a continuous flow reator were 1,388 mg/l, 147 mg/l and removal efficiencies were 77%, 97.6%, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1706-1715
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• 2018

Several non-methylotrophic bacteria have been reported to improve the growth and activity of methanotrophs; however, their interactions remain to be elucidated. We investigated the interaction between Methylocystis sp. M6 and Microbacterium sp. NM2. A batch co-culture experiment showed that NM2 markedly increased the biomass and methane removal of M6. qPCR analysis revealed that NM2 enhanced both the growth and methane-monooxygenase gene expression of M6. A fed-batch experiment showed that co-culture was more efficient in removing methane than M6 alone (28.4 vs. $18.8{\mu}mol{\cdot}l^{-1}{\cdot}d^{-1}$), although the biomass levels were similar. A starvation experiment for 21 days showed that M6 population remained stable while NM2 population decreased by 66% in co-culture, but the results were opposite in pure cultures, indicating that M6 may cross-feed growth substrates from NM2. These results indicate that M6 apparently had no negative effect on NM2 when M6 actively proliferated with methane. Interestingly, a batch experiment involving a dialysis membrane indicates that physical proximity between NM2 and M6 is required for such biomass and methane removal enhancement. Collectively, the observed interaction is beneficial to the methanotroph but adversely affects the non-methylotroph; moreover, it requires physical proximity, suggesting a tight association between methanotrophs and non-methylotrophs in natural environments.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.79-84
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• 2016

Biofuel has been considered as promising renewable energy to solve various problems that result from increasing usage of fossil fuels since the early 20th century. In terms of chemical and physical properties as fuel, biobutanol has more merits than bioethanol. It could replace gasoline for transportation and industrial demand is increasing significantly. Production of butanol can be achieved by chemical synthesis or by microbial fermentation. The water hyacinth, an aquatic macrophyte, originated from tropical South America but is currently distributed all over the world. Water hyacinth has excellent water purification capacity and it can be utilized as animal feed, organic fertilizer, and biomass feedstock. However, it can cause problems in the rivers and lakes due to its rapid growth and dense mats formation. In this study, the potential of water hyacinth was evaluated as a lignocellulosic biomass feedstock in biobutanol fermentation by using Clostridium beijerinckii. Water hyacinth was converted to water hyacinth hydrolysate medium through pretreatment and saccharification. It was found that productivity of water hyacinth hydrolysate medium on biobutanol production was comparable to general medium.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.189-196
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• 1991

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of temperature on microbial characteristics and treatment efficiency in aerated submerged biofilm process. From the results of the research, conclusions were derived as following: 1. Biofilm density, attached biomass and biofilm thickness were $30-42mg/cm^3$, $1.2-2.7mg/cm^2$ and $380-690{\mu}m$, respectively. These were greatly affected by the variation of temperature ($5-20^{\circ}C$) and packing ratio(45-90%). 2. The ratio of suspended biomass to the total biomass in the reactor was in the range of 10 to 50 % in accordance with the variation of temperature and packing ratio. Therefore, the portion of suspended biomass cannot be neglected. 3. BOD removal efficiency increased as either temperature or biomass(suspended and attached) concentration increased. 4. The aerated submerged biofilm process appeared to be less affected by temperature variation and the estimated temperature correction coefficient of the Van't Hoff-Arrhenenius equation was 1.042.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2017

Cellulosic biomass is a renewable source for biofuel production from non-edible biomass. An optimized pretreatment process is required for the efficient utilization of cellulosic biomass. Among various pretreatment processes, the use of ionic liquids has been reported recently. However, the residual ionic liquid after pretreatment acts as an inhibitor of microbial fermentation. Recently, we isolated mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains resistant to the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM][Ac]) by using a directed evolutionary approach. When 3% [EMIM][Ac] was added to a medium containing 80 g/l of glucose, mutants D452-B2 and D452-S3 produced 35.6 g/l and 36.3 g/l of ethanol, respectively, for 18 h while the parental strain (S. cerevisiae D452-2) produced 1.3 g/l of ethanol. Thus, these mutant S. cerevisiae strains might prove advantageous when ionic liquids are used for biofuel production from cellulosic biomass.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.72-80
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• 2020

Background: Antibiotics are widely used to treat animals from infections. After fertilizing, antibacterials can remain in the soil while adversely affecting the soil microorganisms. The concentration of oxytetracycline (OTC) in the soil and its effect on the soil microbial community was assessed. To assess the impact of OTC on the soil microbial community, it was added to the soil at concentrations of 50, 150, and 300 mg kg^-1 and incubated for 35 days. Results: The concentration of OTC added to the soil decreased from 150 to 7.6 mg kg^-1 during 30 days of incubation, as revealed by LC-MS. The deviations from the control values in the level of substrate-induced respiration on the 5th day of the experiment were, on average, 26, 68, and 90%, with OTC concentrations at 50, 150, and 300 mg kg^-1, respectively. In samples with 150 and 300 mg kg^-1 of OTC, the number of bacteria from the 3rd to 14th day was 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than in the control. The addition of OTC did not affect the fungal counts in samples except on the 7th and 14th days for the 150 and 300 mg kg^-1 contaminated samples. Genes tet(M) and tet(X) were found in samples containing 50, 150, and 300 mg kg^-1 OTC, with no significant differences in the number of copies of tet(M) and tet(X) genes from the OTC concentration. Conclusions: Our results showed that even after a decrease in antibiotic availability, its influence on the soil microbial community remains.