• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.604-615
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• 2019

In this study, we produce a new type of the algae soil conditioner(ASC) using discarded algae biomass through a composting process and evaluate its nutritional characteristics. As the main ingredient, the ASCs used algae biomass collected through the coagulation-floating method and made by adding a variety of additional supporting materials (sawdust, pearlite, oilcake etc.). ASCs were divided into 0% in blank, 11.7% in ASC1, 21.6% in ASC2, 37.6% in ASC3, 59.5% in ASC4, and composted during 127 days. ASCs showed a sharp increase in temperature by aerobic microbial reaction, and 6~7 high and low temperature peaks were observed. As a result of physicochemical analysis, mineralization proceeded according to decomposing the organic matter and there was a marked increase not only in macronutrients (TN, P₂O₅, K₂O), but also in secondary macronutrients (CaO, MgO). The microbial community change was found in stage 1 (bacteria, filamentous fungi) → stage 2 (actinomycetes, bacteria) → stage 3 (Bacillus sp.), depending on the maturation process. It was estimated that microbial transition was closely related to temperature change and nutritional behavior. The quality of soil conditioner can be determined according to the maturity of compost process, and it was determined that effective microbial activity could be induced by controlling algae biomass below 59.5% in this study. In conclusion, we found out the possibility of manufacturing and utilizing soil conditioner recycled algae biomass and if further technological development is made on the basis it can be used as an effective soil conditioner.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.116-124
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• 2006

In this study was performed to analyze quantitatively the number of viable but non-culturable bacteria in the Pine and Quercus forest soil by improved direct viable count (DVC) and plate count (PC) methods. The number of living bacteria of Pine and Quercus forest soil by PC method were less then 1% of DVC method. This result showed that viable but non-culturable (VBNC) bacteria existed in the forest soil with high percentage. Diversity and structure of VBNC bacterial populations in forest soil were analyzed by direct extracting of DNA and 16S rDNA-ARDRA from Pine and Quercus forest soil. Each of them obtained 111 clones and 108 clones from Pine and Quercus forest soil. Thirty different RFLP types were detected from Pine forest soil and twenty-six different RFLP types were detected from Quercus forest soil by HeaIII. From ARDRA groups, dominant clones were selected for determining their phylogenetic characteristics based on 16S rDNA sequence. Based on the 16S rDNA sequences, dominant clones from ARDRA groups of Pine forest soil were classified into 7 major phylogenetic groups ${\alpha}$-proteobacteria (12 clones), ${\gamma}$-proteobacteria (3 clones), ${\delta}$-proteobacteria (1 clone), Flexibacter/Cytophaga (1 clone), Actinobacteria (4 clones), Acidobacteria (4 clones), Planctomycetes (5 clones). Also, dominant clones from ARDRA groups of Quercus forest soil were classified into 6 major phylogenetic groups : ${\alpha}$-proteobacte,ia (4clones), ${\gamma}$-proteobacteria (2 clones), Actinobacteria (10 clones), Acidobacteria (8 clones), Planctomycetes (1 clone), and Verrucomicobia (1 clone). Result of phylogeneric analysis of microbial community from Pine and Quercus forest soils were mostly confirmed at uncultured or unidentified bacteria, VBNC bacteria of over 99% existent in forest soil were confirmed variable composition of unknown micro-organism.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.268-273
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• 2019

The intestinal microbiomes vary according to the factors such environment, age and diet. The purpose of this study was to compare the gut microbial diversity between Korean infants receiving breast-fed milk and formula-fed milk. We analyzed microbial communities in stool samples collected from 80 Korean infants using next generation sequencing. Phylum level analysis revealed that microbial communities in both breast-fed infants group (BIG) was dominated by Actinobacteria ($74.22{\pm}3.48%$). Interestingly, the phylum Actinobacteria was dominant in formula-fed infants group A (FIG-A) at $73.46{\pm}4.12%$, but the proportions of phylum Actinobacteria were lower in formulafed infants group B and C (FIG-B and FIG-C) at $66.52{\pm}5.80%$ and $68.88{\pm}4.33%$. The most abundant genus in the BIG, FIG-A, FIG-B, and FIG-C was Bifidobacterium, comprising $73.09{\pm}2.31%$, $72.25{\pm}4.93%$, $63.81{\pm}6.05%$, and $67.42{\pm}5.36%$ of the total bacteria. Furthermore, the dominant bifidobacterial species detected in BIG and FIG-A was Bifidobacterium longum at $68.77{\pm}6.07%$ and $66.85{\pm}4.99%$ of the total bacteria. In contrast, the proportions of B. longum of FIG-B and FIG-C were $58.94{\pm}6.20%$ and $61.86{\pm}5.31%$ of the total bacteria. FIG-A showed a community similar to BIG, which may be due to the inclusion of galactooligosaccharide, galactosyllactose, synergy-oligosaccharide, bifidooligo and improvement material of gut microbiota contained in formula-milk. We conclude that 5-Bifidus factor contained in milk powder promotes the growth of Bifidobacterium genus in the intestines.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.989-996
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• 2012

Nitrate contamination of water environments can create serious problems such as eutrophication of rivers. Conventional biological processes for nitrate removal by heterotrophic denitrification often need additional organic substrates as carbon sources and electron donors. We tried to accelerate biological denitrification by using bioelectrochemical reactor (BER) in which electrode works as an electron donor. Denitrification activity of 8 environmental samples from various sediments, soils, groundwaters, and sludges were tested to establish an efficient enrichment culture for BER. The established enrichment culture from a soil sample showed stable denitrification activity without any nitrite accumulation. Microbial community analysis by using PCR-DGGE method revealed that dominant denitrifiers in the enrichment culture were Pantoea sp., Cronobacter sakazakii, and Castellaniella defragrans. Denitrification rate ($0.08kg/m^3{\cdot}day$) of the enrichment culture in BER with electrode poised at -0.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl) was higher than that ($2.1{\times}10^{-2}kg/m^3{\cdot}day$) of BER without any poised potential. This results suggested that biological denitrification would be improved by supplying potential throughout electrode in BER. Further research using BER without any organic substrate addition is needed to apply this system for bioremediation of water and wastewater contaminated by nitrate.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2006

The analysis of functional population and its dynamics on the environment is essential for understanding bioremediation in environment. Here, we report a method for oligonucleotide microarray for the monitoring of aliphatic and aromatic degradative genes. This microarray contained 15 unique and group-specific probes which were based on 100 known genes involved pathways in biodegradation. Hybridization specificity tests with pure cultures, strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa KCTC 1636 indicated that the designed probes on the arrays appeared to be specific to their corresponding target genes. It was found that the presence of 8 genes encoding alkane, naphthalene, biphenyl, pyrene (PAH ring-hydroxylating) degradation pathway could be detected in oil contaminated soil sample. Therefore, the findings of this study strongly suggest that oligonucleotide microarray is an effective diagnostic tool for evaluating biodegradation capability in oil contaminated subsurface environment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.248-258
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• 2020

The vaginal microbiota may be important for pregnancy prognosis because vaginal dysbiosis during pregnancy appears to be related to preterm birth (PTB) or pregnancy loss. Previous reports have indicated that a Lactobacillus-poor microbial flora in the vagina and intrauterine infection by diverse anaerobes ascending from the vagina are associated with undesirable delivery outcomes. However, no research has involved the use of pyrosequencing analysis to examine vaginal microbiota profiles or their potential associations with high-risk pregnancy in Korean women. Vaginal swabs were collected from 500 Korean women for the identification of community state types (CSTs). Of these, 137 samples were further analyzed using a Roche/454 GS Junior pyrosequencer. Three distinct CSTs were identified based on the dominant vaginal microbes: CST I (Lactobacillus crispatus dominated), CST III (Lactobacillus iners dominated), and CST IV (with diverse species of anaerobes). Twelve of the 67 pregnant women had undesirable pregnancy outcomes (four miscarriages and eight PTBs). The dominant microbe in the vaginal microbiota of women who gave birth at full-term was L. crispatus. In contrast, L. iners was the dominant vaginal microbe in women who miscarried. Most (n = 6/8) vaginal microbiota profiles of women who experienced PTB could be classified as CST IV, with diverse bacteria, including anaerobic vaginal species. The present study provides valuable information regarding the characteristics of the vaginal microbiota of Korean women related to high-risk pregnancy. Investigation of the vaginal microbiotic structure in pregnant Korean women is necessary to enable better prediction of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.804-810
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• 2020

The profitability of the dairy and beef industries is largely affected by the actually achieved reproductive efficiency. Although a large proportion of cows worldwide are bred by artificial insemination (AI) services, many potential factors affecting the outcome of pregnancy by AI remain to be addressed. In the present study, we investigated the vaginal microbiota by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene and analyzed their association with differential pregnancy outcomes (i.e., pregnant vs. nonpregnant) of multiple AI services in dairy cows. Sequencing of the V3-V4 region totally produced 512,046 high-quality sequences that were computationally clustered into 2,584 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). All OTUs were taxonomically assigned to 10 bacterial phyla. There were statistically significant differences among the three AI service times (T1, T2 and T3) with respect to the Shannon index and number of observed OTUs (p < 0.05). Bray-Curtis distance-based PCoA analysis also revealed that T2 group could be significantly distinguished from T1 and T3. However, no significant difference between the pregnant and nonpregnant cows was found in confidence regarding both alpha diversity and beta diversity. These results could help us better understand the possible influence of vaginal microbial community on pregnancy outcomes of AI service in cows.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the paddy irrigation efficiency using real-time water level monitoring data and intermittent irrigation model in Gimjae, Dong-Jin irrigation district. For this study, the real-time water level data in Gimjae main canal and other secondary canals were collected from 2012 to 2014 and converted to daily discharge using rating curve in each canal. From intermittent irrigation model in paddy, irrigation water requirement was estimated and irrigation efficiency was calculated. The average amount of irrigation water supply per unit irrigation area was 1,011 mm in Gimjae main canal for 12,749 ha irrigation area, 1,011 mm in the secondary canal of upper region and 1,470 mm in the secondary canal of lower region. The median irrigation loss was 43 % in Gimjae main canal, 25 % in secondary canal of upper region and 35 % in the secondary canal of lower region. The larger irrigation area is, the irrigation loss rates tend to decrease in secondary canals. Monthly median irrigation losses in upper region were 10 (June) - 40 % (September) and those in lower region were 25 (May) to 40 % (April, June, August, and September). The results of canal management loss can be available as the basic data for irrigation water management and estimating guideline of optimal irrigation water supply to improve agricultural water use efficiencies.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.154-161
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• 2018

Currently, urban greening projects and research are attracting attention as a way to mitigate urban heat island phenomenon. In this study, nitrogen fixative bacteria were isolated and their effects on plant growth were confirmed. First, enrichment was performed in a nitrogen-free medium to isolate the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and the colony showing high growth in a medium with limited nitrogen source was isolated and purified. Separated bacterial isolates were reduced by more than 90% acetylene by ARA and indirectly confirmed the activity of nitrogenase by ethylene production. Cedecea sp. MK7 and Enterobacter sp. Y8 with confirmed reproducibility were selected as nitrogen fixative bacteria. Nitrogen fixing bacteria were applied to the growth of perennial rye grass, and it was found that the dry weight increased to 34.80 mg (186.60%) compared with the control with 18.65 mg dry weight. After plant growth, microbial community analysis of soil applied by bacteria showed similarity to the control group. Therefore, in this study, it is expected that the efficiency will be increased if plant growth is promoted by using nitrogen fixing bacteria in urban greenery system.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1185-1192
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• 2012

This study investigated the hydrocarbonoclastic microbial community present on weathered crude oil and their ability to degrade weathered oil in seawater obtained from the Gulf St. Vincent (SA, Australia). Examination of the native seawater communities capable of utilizing hydrocarbon as the sole carbon source identified a maximum recovery of just $6.6{\times}10^1\;CFU/ml$, with these values dramatically increased in the weathered oil, reaching $4.1{\times}10^4\;CFU/ml$. The weathered oil (dominated by > $C_{30}$ fractions; $750,000{\pm}150,000mg/l$) was subject to an 8 week laboratory-based degradation microcosm study. By day 56, the natural inoculums degraded the soluble hydrocarbons (initial concentrations $3,400{\pm}700mg/l$ and $1,700{\pm}340mg/l$ for the control and seawater, respectively) to below detectable levels, and biodegradation of the residual oil reached 62% ($254,000{\pm}40,000mg/l$) and 66% ($285,000{\pm}45,000mg/l$) in the control and seawater sources, respectively. In addition, the residual oil gas chromatogram profiles changed with the presence of short and intermediate hydrocarbon chains. 16S rDNA DGGE sequence analysis revealed species affiliated with the genera Roseobacter, Alteromonas, Yeosuana aromativorans, and Pseudomonas, renowned oil-degrading organisms previously thought to be associated with the environment where the oil contaminated rather than also being present in the contaminating oil. This study highlights the importance of microbiological techniques for isolation and characterisation, coupled with molecular techniques for identification, in understanding the role and function of native oil communities.