• Title/Summary/Keyword: microbial engineering

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Inhibitory Activity against Protein Kinase C of Some Medicinal Plants (수종 생약의 Protein kinase C 저해활성)

  • Lee, Hyun-Sun;Ahn, Soon-Cheol;Kim, Bo-Hyun;Park, Moon-Su;Oh, Won-Keun;Yoon, Byung-Dae;Ahn, Jong-Seog;Mheen, Tae-Ick
    • Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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    • v.23 no.3
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    • pp.142-145
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    • 1992
  • MeOH extract of twenty medicinal herbs were screened for their effects against protein kinase C (PKC) using bleb-forming assay and PKC enzyme assay. Smilax china and Sanguisorba officinalis showed potent anti-PKC activity. Campsis grandiflora and Galla Halepensis showed moderate inhibitory effect on PKC.

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Microbial Consortia in Oman Oil Fields: A Possible Use in Enhanced Oil Recovery

  • Al-Bahry, Saif N.;Elsahfie, Abdulkader E.;Al-Wahaibi, Yahya M.;Al-Bimani, Ali S.;Joshi, Sanket J.;Al-Maaini, Ratiba A.;Al-Alawai, Wafa J.;Sugai, Yuichi;Al-Mandhari, Mussalam
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.106-117
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    • 2013
  • Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is one of the most economical and efficient methods for extending the life of production wells in a declining reservoir. Microbial consortia from Wafra oil wells and Suwaihat production water, Al-Wusta region, Oman were screened. Microbial consortia in brine samples were identified using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rRNA gene sequences. The detected microbial consortia of Wafra oil wells were completely different from microbial consortia of Suwaihat formation water. A total of 33 genera and 58 species were identified in Wafra oil wells and Suwaihat production water. All of the identified microbial genera were first reported in Oman, with Caminicella sporogenes for the first time reported from oil fields. Most of the identified microorganisms were found to be anaerobic, thermophilic, and halophilic, and produced biogases, biosolvants, and biosurfactants as by-products, which may be good candidates for MEOR.

Microbial Community Analysis using RDP II (Ribosomal Database Project II):Methods, Tools and New Advances

  • Cardenas, Erick;Cole, James R.;Tiedje, James M.;Park, Joon-Hong
    • Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.3-9
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    • 2009
  • Microorganisms play an important role in the geochemical cycles, industry, environmental cleanup, and biotechnology among other fields. Given the high microbial diversity, identification of the microorganism is essential in understanding and managing the processes. One of the most popular and powerful method for microbial identification is comparative 16S rRNA gene analysis. Due to the highly conserved nature of this essential gene, sequencing and later comparison of it against known rRNA databases can provide assignment of the bacteria into the taxonomy, and the identity of its closest relatives. Isolation and sequencing of 16S rRNA genes directly from natural environments (either from DNA or RNA) can also be used to study the structure of the whole microbial community. Nowadays, novel sequencing technologies with massive outputs are giving researchers worldwide the chance to study the microbial world with a depth that was previously too expensive to achieve. In this article we describe commonly used research approaches for the study of individual microorganisms and microbial communities using the tools provided by Ribosomal Database Project website.

Construction of Microbial Fuel Cells Using Thermophilic Microorganisms, Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus thermoglucosidasius

  • Choi, Young-Jin;Jung, Eun-Kyoung;Park, Hyun-Joo;Paik, Seung R.;Jung, Seun-Ho;Kim, Sung-Hyun
    • Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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    • v.25 no.6
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    • pp.813-818
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    • 2004
  • A systematic study of microbial fuel cells comprised of thermophilic Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus thermoglucosidasius has been carried out under various operating conditions. Substantial amount of electricity was generated when a redox mediator was used. Being affected by operation temperature, the maximum efficiency was obtained at 50$^{\circ}C$ with an open circuit voltage of ca. 0.7 V. While a small change around the optimum temperature did not make much effect on the cell performance, the rapid decrease in performance was observed above 70$^{\circ}C$. It was noticeable that fuel cell efficiency and discharge pattern strongly depended on the kind of carbon sources used in the initial culture medium. In the case of B. thermoglucosidasius, glucose alone was utilized constitutively as a substrate in the microbial fuel cell irrespective of used carbons sources. When B. licheniformis was cultivated with lactose as a carbon source, best charging characteristics were recorded. Trehalose, in particular, showed 41.2% coulombic efficiency when B. thermoglucosidasius was cultured in a starch-containing medium. Relatively good repetitive operation was possible with B. thermoglucosidasius cells up to 12 cycles using glucose as a carbon source, when they were cultured with lactose as an initial carbon source. This study demonstrates that highly efficient thermophilic microbial fuel cells can be constructed by a pertinent modulation of the operating conditions and by carefully selecting carbon sources used in the initial culture medium.

Modeling of Typical Microbial Cell Growth in Batch Culture

  • Jianqiang Lin;Lee, Sang-Mok;Lee, Ho-Joon;Koo, Yoon-Mo
    • Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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    • v.5 no.5
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    • pp.382-385
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    • 2000
  • A mathematical model was developed, based on the time dependent changes of the specific growth rate, for prediction of the typical microbial cell growth in batch cultures. This model could predict both the lag growth phase and the stationary growth phase of batch cultures, and it was tested with the batch growth of Trichoderma reesei and Lactobacillus delbrueckii.

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A combined approach to evaluate activity and structure of soil microbial community in long-term heavy metals contaminated soils

  • Wang, Tianqi;Yuan, Zhimin;Yao, Jun
    • Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.62-69
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    • 2018
  • In the present study, long-term heavy metals (HMs) contaminated soil samples from a well-known Pb/Zn smelting area in the southwest of China were collected, and physicochemical and biological characteristics of these samples were evaluated. Soil samples contained different concentrations of HMs, namely Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd. Enzyme activity analyses combined with microcalorimetric analysis were used for soil microbial activity evaluation. Results showed that two soil samples, containing almost the highest concentrations of HMs, also shared the greatest microbial activities. Based on correlation coefficient analysis, high microbial activity in heavily HMs contaminated soil might be due to the high contents of soil organic matter and available phosphorus in these samples. High-throughput sequencing technique was used for microbial community structure analysis. High abundance of genera Sphingomonas and Thiobacillus were also observed in these two heavily contaminated soils, suggesting that bacteria belonging to these two genera might be further isolated from these contaminated soils and applied for future studies of HMs remediation. Results of present study would contribute to the evaluation of microbial communities and isolation of microbial resources to remediate HMs pollution.

Characterization of Interphase Microbial Community in Luzhou-Flavored Liquor Manufacturing Pits of Various Ages by Polyphasic Detection Methods

  • Li, Hui;Huang, Jun;Liu, Xinping;Zhou, Rongqing;Ding, Xiaofei;Xiang, Qianyin;Zhang, Liqiang;Wu, Chongde
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.130-140
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    • 2017
  • It is vital to understand the changing characteristics of interphase microbial communities and interspecies synergism during the fermentation of Chinese liquors. In this study, microbial communities in the three indispensable phases (pit mud, zaopei, and huangshui) of Luzhou-flavored liquor manufacturing pits and their shifts during cellars use were first investigated by polyphasic culture-independent approaches. The archaeal and eubacterial communities in the three phases were quantitatively assessed by combined phospholipid ether lipids/phospholipid fatty acid analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization. In addition, qualitative information regarding the microbial community was analyzed by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Results suggested that the interphase microbial community profiles were quite different, and the proportions of specific microbial groups evolved gradually. Anaerobic bacteria and gram-positive bacteria were dominant and their numbers were higher in pit mud ($10^9$ cells/g) than in huangshui ($10^7$ cells/ml) and zaopei ($10^7$ cells/g). Hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea were the dominant archaea, and their proportions were virtually unchanged in pit mud (around 65%), whereas they first increased and then decreased in zaopei (59%-82%-47%) and increased with pit age in huangshui (82%-92%). Interactions between microbial communities, especially between eubacteria and methanogens, played a key role in the formation of favorable niches for liquor fermentation. Furthermore, daqu (an essential saccharifying and fermentative agent) and metabolic regulation parameters greatly affected the microbial community.

Enhancement of Microbial Immobilization on the Surface of a Reticulated PU-g-PAAc Foam prepared through Graft Copolymerization induced by Atmosoheric Pressure Plasma Treatment (대기압 플라즈마 유도 그라프트 공중합으로 합성된 망상형 PU-g-PAAc 폼의 미생물 고정화능 향상)

  • Myung Sung Woon;Jang Yung Mi;Nam Ki Chun;Choi Ho Suk;Cho Dae Chul
    • KSBB Journal
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    • v.19 no.5
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    • pp.399-405
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    • 2004
  • A reticulated PU-g-PAAc foam was modified through the surface treatment of PU foam by one atmospheric pressure plasma. The synthesized PU-g-PAAc foam was prepared for the purpose of immobilizing microbial organisms. We also attempted different plasma treatment methods including simple plasma treatment, plasma induced grafting and plasma induced grafting followed by plasma re-treatment. The effect of grafting on equilibrium water content (EWC) of PU forms was examined by swelling measurements. Adhesion test was performed to investigate the effect of different plasma treatment methods on the improvement of microbial immobilization. Two foams modified by plasma induced grafting and plasma re-treatment after grafting showed 2.7 and 3.0 fold higher microbial immobilization than unmodified one, respectively. Meanwhile, simple plasma treatment showed a little enhancement. FT-IR analysis of each sample verified the contribution of surface functional groups on the enhancement of microbial immobilization. SEM observation confirmed microbial adherence.