• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.225-235
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• 2011

The change of microbial communities during cyanobacterial bloom was comparatively analyzed by 16S rDNA PCR-DGGE in Daechung Reservoir during 2003~2005. Morphological analysis showed that Cyanophyceae dominated algal community in the bloom. Dominant cyanobacteria were Microcystis, Planktothrix (Oscillatoria), Phormidium and Anabaena. We used 16S rDNA-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiles and phylogenetic affiliations of the DGGE bands to analyze the community structure and diversity of the predominant microbial community. The DGGE band patterns demonstrated that the most frequent bands were identified as Microcystis during the monitoring periods, Planktothrix also dominated on September 2003 and 2004, whereas Anabaena was showed a peak on September 2005 and Aphanizomenon on August 2003. DGGE and phylogenetic analysis provided us new information that could not be obtained by traditional, morphological analysis. The relationship between cyanobacteria and other aquatic bacteria can be traced and their genetic diversity also identified in detail.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2023

The effects of forest fires on the activity of microbial communities in topsoil and subsoil were investigated. Samples were collected from Korean forest soils comprising mainly igneous and sedimentary rocks. Analysis of beta-glucosidase, found higher microbial activity in sedimentary rocks than in igneous rocks. Enzyme activity was not observed immediately after fire, but was restored over time. The enzyme activity of subsoil was inhibited by 33~46% compared with that in the topsoil, regardless of soil damage. The effect of fire on the availability of microbial substrate was investigated using EcoPlate. The percentages of average well color development values of damaged and normal topsoil were 52.7~56.8% and 62.3~83.6%, respectively. Forest fires appear to affect the diversity and substrate availability of the subsoil microbial community by accelerating the decomposition of soil organic matter. The Shanon index, representing microbial biodiversity, was high in the topsoil of all samples; it was higher for soil microorganisms in sedimentary rocks than in igneous rocks, and higher in topsoil than in subsoil.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2020

Microbial electrosynthesis has recently been considered a potentially sustainable biotechnology for converting carbon dioxide (CO₂) into valuable biochemicals. In this study, bioelectrochemical acetate production from CO₂ was studied in an H-type two-chambered reactor system with an anaerobic microbial consortium. Metal-rich mud flat was used as the inoculum and incubated electrochemically for 90 days under a cathode potential of -1.1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Four consecutive batch cultivations resulted in a high acetate concentration and productivity of 93 mmol/L and 7.35 mmol/L/day, respectively. The maximal coulombic efficiency (rate of recovered acetate from supplied electrons) was estimated to be 64%. Cyclic voltammetry showed a characteristic reduction peak at -0.2~-0.4 V, implying reductive acetate generation on the cathode electrode. Furthermore, several electroactive acetate-producing microorganisms were identified based on denaturing- gradient-gel-electrophoresis (DGGE) and 16S rRNA sequence analyses. These results suggest that the mud flat can be used effectively as a microbial source for bioelectrochemical CO₂ conversion.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1697-1705
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• 2020

Meju, a type of fermented soybean paste, is used as a starter in the preparation of various Korean traditional soybean-based foods. In this study, we performed Illumina-MiSeq paired-end sequencing for microbial communities and mass spectrometry analysis for metabolite profiling to investigate the differences between 11 traditional meju products from different regions across Korea. Even though the bacterial and fungal communities showed remarkable variety, major genera including Bacillus, Enterococcus, Variovorax, Pediococcus, Weissella, and Aspergillus were detected in every sample of meju. The metabolite profile patterns of the 11 samples were clustered into two main groups: group I (M1-5) and group II (M6-11). The metabolite analysis indicated a relatively higher amino acid content in group I, while group II exhibited higher isoflavone, soyasaponin, and lysophospholipid contents. The bioactivity analysis proved that the ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) radical-scavenging activity was higher in group II and the FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) activity was higher in group I. The correlation analysis revealed that the ABTS activity was isoflavonoid, lipid, and soyasaponin related, whereas the FRAP activity was amino acid and flavonoid related. These results suggest that the antioxidant activities of meju are critically influenced by the microbiome and metabolite dynamics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.698-708
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• 2009

High rate sulfate reduction under acidic conditions opens possibilities for new process flow sheets that allow the selective recovery of metals from mining and metallurgical waste and process water. However, knowledge about high-rate sulfate reduction under acidic conditions is limited. This paper investigates sulfate reduction in a membrane bioreactor at a controlled pH of 5. Sulfate and formate were dosed using a pH-auxostat system while formate was converted into hydrogen, which was used for sulfate reduction. Sulfide was removed from the gas phase to prevent sulfide inhibition. This study shows a high-rate sulfate-reducing bioreactor system for the frrst time at pH 5, with a volumetric activity of 188 mmol $SO_4^{2-}$/I/d and a specific activity of 81 mmol $SO_4^{2-}$volatile suspended solids/d. The microbial community at the end of the reactor run consisted of a diverse mixed population including sulfate-reducing bacteria.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.80-85
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• 2013

The bacterial community structure in a biological reactor fed influent from a wastewater treatment system was investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and in situ hybridization. Sludges were collected from three biological reactors (aerobic, oxic, and anoxic tanks) at the M wastewater treatment facility (WTF). The influent of the MWTF consisted of mixed tannery wastewater (40~65%) and seafood wastewater (35~60%). The treatment processes resulted in a removal efficiency for BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) of 83.6~98.2% and 72.8~84.6%, respectively for tannery wastewater than for seafood wastewater resulted in greater survival of biomass in the biological reactors and a higher removal of BOD, COD, and T-N of about 8~18%. In contrast, addition of greater amounts of seafood wastewater decreased the amount of biomass in the bioreactors due to the increasing concentration of chromium from that wastewater and it also. The dominant bacterial species during the high seafood wastewater input period were Burkholderia cepacia (JX901049) and an uncultured bacterium (JF247555), while Pseudomonas geniculata (HQ256559) was dominant during the high tannery wastewater input period. Flavobacteriumsp. BF.107 (FM173271) and Hyphomicrobium zavarzinii (Y14306) were dominant under anoxic conditions.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.145-153
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• 2022

The gut microbiota is involved in the maintenance of physiological homeostasis and is now recognized as a regulator of many diseases. Although germ-free mouse models are the standard for microbiome studies, mice with antibiotic-induced sterile intestines are often chosen as a fast and inexpensive alternative. Pathophysiological changes in the gut microbiome have been demonstrated, but there are no reports so far on how such alterations affect the bacterial composition of the uterus. Here we examined changes in uterine microbiota as a result of gut microbiome disruption in an antibiotics-based sterile-uterus mouse model. Sterility was induced in 6-week-old female mice by administration of a combination of antibiotics, and amplicons of a bacteria marker gene (16S rRNA) were sequenced to decipher bacterial community structures in the uterus. At the phylum-level, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria were found to be dominant, while Ralstonia, Escherichia, and Prauserella were the major genera. Quantitative comparisons of the microbial contents of an antibiotic-fed and a control group revealed that the treatment resulted in the reduction of bacterial population density. Although there was no significant difference in bacterial community structures between the two animal groups, β-diversity analysis showed a converged profile of uterus microbiotain the germ-free model. These findings suggest that the induction of sterility does not result in changes in the levels of specific taxa but in a reduction of individual variations in the mouse uterus microbiota, accompanied by a decrease in overall bacterial population density.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.118-126
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• 2002

To evaluate the correlations of microbial populations with soil healthiness and crop production and establish the criteria for microbial population of soil types. We analyzed the microbial community structure of 13 soils which were different in physical and chemical properties and cultivation methods. According to the analysis of microbial population suing the dilution plate method, the large differences of the microbial population structures among soil types were shown: aerobic bacteria $2-27{\times}10^6$, fluorescent Pseudomonas $1-1,364{\times}10^5$, Gram negative bacteria $1-126{\times}10^4$, and mesophilic Bacillus $1-110{\times}10^5$. The density of Gram negative bacteria was highest on red pepper cultivating soils (sample no. 4 and 6) of Umsung and Gesan, Chungbuk, and the density of the fluorescent Pseudomonas was highest on greenhouse soil (sample no. 7) of Jinju, Kyungnam. The crop productivity of three soils was high as compared with those of other soils. It was supposed that the density of fluorescent Pseudomonas and mesophilic Bacillus were correlated with the incresed crop production. By MIDI analysis, 579 strains isolated from 13 soils composed of a variety of microbes including 102 isolates of Agrobacterium, 112 isolates of Bacillus, 32 isolates of Pseudomonas, 44 isolates of Kocuria, and 34 isolates of Pseudomonas. Among the 624 isolates of Gram negative bacteria, Pseudomonas including P. putida and p. fluorescens occupied the highest density (51%), and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Burkholderia cepacia also appeared at high density. From RAPD analysis, the fluorescent Pseudomonas strains isolated from 13 soil types showed a high level of strain diversities and were grouped into 2 - 14 patterns according to soil types. Many of unknown bacteria were recovered from the paddy soil, and needed to be further characterized on the molecular basis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.332-339
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• 2015

Nitrogen removal is one of the most important issues about wastewater treatment because nitrogen is a primary pollutant caused various problems such as eutrophication. We developed a CANON microbial community by using AOB and ANAMMOX bacteria as seeding sources. When 100 mg-N/L of influent ammonium was supplied, the DO above 0.4 mg/L showed a very low TN removal efficiency while the DO of 0.3 mg/L showed TN removal efficiency as high as 71.3%. When the influent ammonium concentration was reduced to 50 mg/L, TN removal efficiency drastically deceased. However, TN removal efficiency was recovered to above 70% after 14 day operation when the influent nitrogen concentration was changed again from 50 mg-N/L to 100 mg-N/L. According to the operating temperature from $37{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ to $20{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, TN removal efficiency also rapidly decreased but gradually increased again up to $70.0{\pm}2.6$%. The analysis of PCR-DGGE showed no substantial difference in microbial community structures under different operational conditions. This suggests that if CANON sludge is once successfully developed from a mixture of AOB and ANAMMOX bacteria, the microbial community can be stably maintained regardless of the changes in operational conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.757-763
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• 2006

In our previous studies, we have isolated bacteria from BTEX-contaminated sediment, which utilized BTEX as a sole carbon source and $NO_3$-N as an electron acceptor. For the possibility of field application, we have applied co-culture of those isolates in the BTEX-contaminated soil and evaluated their biodegradation efficiencies. To investigate the relationship between the isolates and indigenous microorganism in soil, changes of microbial community structure in soil samples with respect to time were monitored. To examine this, soil samples were artificially contaminated with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene. BTEX-degrading bacteria such as Pseudomonas stutzeri strain 15(DQ 202712), Klebsiells sp. strain 20(DQ 202715) and Citrobacter sp. strain A(DQ 202713) were injected into the soil samples in the ratio of 2:1:1. Our results showed that the highest BTEX biodegradation efficiency was achieved when both BTEX and $NO_3-N$ existed simultaneously. The change in soil microbial community structure was characterized by PCR-DGGE analysis comparing the relative DGGE band intensities. The band intensities of indigenous microorganisms in the soil were reduced by injecting co-culture of the three isolates. On the contrary, the relative band intensities of the isolates were increased. Among the three isolates, Pseudomonas stutzeri strain 15 rendered the highest band intensity. This indicates that the Pseudomonas stutzeri was the dominant microbial species found in the soil samples.