• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.345-356
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• 2022

The fungal distribution, diversity, and load were analyzed in the geographically segregated island groundwater systems in Korea. A total of 79 fungal isolates were secured from seven islands and identified based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. They belonged to three phyla (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Chlorophyta), five classes, sixteen orders, twenty-two families, and thirty-one genera. The dominant phylum was Ascomycota (91.1%), with most fungi belonging to the Cladosporium (21.5%), Aspergillus (15.2%), and Stachybotrys (8.9%) genera. Cladosporium showed higher dominance and diversity, being widely distributed throughout the geographically segregated groundwater systems. Based on the diversity indices, the genera richness (4.821) and diversity (2.550) were the highest in the groundwater system of the largest scale. As turbidity (0.064-0.462) increased, the overall fungal count increased and the residual chlorine (0.089-0.308) had low relevance compared with the total count and fungal diversity. Cladosporium showed normal mycelial growth in de-chlorinated sterilized samples. Overall, if turbidity increases under higher fungal diversity, bio-deterioration in groundwater-supplying facilities and public health problems could be intensified, regardless of chlorine treatment. In addition to fungal indicators and analyzing methods, physical hydrostatic treatment is necessary for monitoring and controlling fungal contamination.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.360-368
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• 1993

GTP binding protein (G-protein) associated with membrane and involved in signal transduction was isolated from bovine brain, and molecular weight of G protein was observed. As the results, cell membranes were homogenized from bovine brain tissues and proteins of membrane were gained using 1% cholate, and progressed the chromatography. The purification process was performed by step, DEAE-Sephacel, Ulttrogel AcA 34 and heptylamine-Sepharose column chromatography. The chromatographic fractions were confirmed by GTP binding assay and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Molecular weight of $Go{\alpha}$ was revealed 39,000 dalton and $G{\beta}$ 36,000 dalton. One more step of heptylamine-Sepharose was enforced to purify the GTP binding protein. Finally I gained the GTP binding protein isolated subtype of $Go{\alpha}$ and $G{\beta}$.

• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.134-140
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• 2019

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), one of the graphene derivatives is famous as the most proper candidate for industrial applications. However, current performance of GNPs as reinforcing filler in composites is limited by their agglomeration and physicochemical heterogeneity. Herein, an approach to produce non-covalently functionalized GNPs (F-GNPs) is reported which possesses potential to be extended as the industrial level of mass production. The one-step functionalization process uses melamine, a low-cost chemical, to prevent agglomeration and dispersion in polar solvents. Furthermore, a purification strategy called salting-out process based on differences in the dispersibility of the individual F-GNP flakes is reported to separate F-GNPs. The functionalization and separation process developed in this paper provides a strategy to use GNPs at the industrial level in composite applications.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.63-66
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• 2017

BACKGROUND: The phenol concentrations in water samples were determined using gas chromatography after derivatization of the analyte to phenyl acetate followed by extraction using a large volume of solvent. However, this procedure requires an additional purification step and is not analytically efficient. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, phenol was first extracted from an acidified water sample using ethyl acetate and then acetylated using acetic anhydride in the presence of a small amount of water and $K_2CO_3$. The derivative was extracted using 1mL of n-butyl acetate. One microliter of the extract was analyzed by GC-MS without further purification. The calibration curve showed good linearity with the $r^2$ value of 0.9968. The method detection limit and the limit of quantitation were estimated to be $0.18{\mu}g/L$ and $0.56{\mu}g/L$, respectively. Repeatability (RSD, n=3) and recovery (n=3) were 9.1%-4.3% and 90.6%-110.5%, respectively. The concentrations of phenol in a few samples of stream water were distributed in the range of $2.51-7.51{\mu}g/L$. CONCLUSION: This method is simpler and faster to implement than those currently utilized and shows high analytical reliability. It can be applied to the quantitative determination of phenol concentrations in surface water and groundwater samples.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.413-420
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• 2003

A gas chromatography/mass spectrometric assay method was developed for the simultaneous determination of neutral and bacis twenty-five disruptors $(ED_S)$ in frog and fish. Afther homogenization and sonication of 5 g of sample, purification was achieves in one step with a solid phase extraction procedure using silica gelflorisl. Eluton was performed with 50mL of acetone : n-hexane (1 : 9) solution. The eluate was concentrated to approximately 10uL and dissolves with 100 uL of hexane and analyzed by GC-MS (SIM). The peaks had good chromatographic properties and the extraction of these compounds from sample also gave relatively high recoveries with small variatoins. Detection limits were 0.1 ng/g for 4-nitrotoluene, benzophenone, hexachlorobenzene, atrazine, malathion, o,p-DDT, o,p-DDT and permethrin, and 0.2 ng/g for heptachlor epoxide, γ-chlordane, α-chlordane, p,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDD, cypermethrin and fenvalerate, and 0.3 ng/g for trifluralin, metribuzin, alachlor, dieldrin and p,p'-DDT, and 0.5 ng/g for heptachlor, aldrin and parathion, and 0.7 ng/g for endrin, and 0.8 ng/g for nitrofen. The recoveries were between 33 and 109%. The method was used to analyze twenty-five frogs and forty-six fishes fishes samples caught from various regions in Korea. Benzophenone was detected at concentration of up to 17.2 ng/g in frog or fish. Heptachlor, aldrin, γ-chlordane, p,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDD, endrin and o,p-DDD were detected at concentrations of 0.7-12.5 ng/g in frog or fish. Also significant leveles of dieldrin (up to 22.5 ng/g) were observed. The developed method may be valuable to be used to the national monitoring project of EDS in biota samples.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1445-1452
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• 2008

An open reading frame (ORF) encoding a putative epoxide hydrolase (EHase) was identified by analyzing the genome sequence of Sphingophyxis alaskensis. The EHase gene (seh) was cloned and expressed in E. coli. To facilitate purification, the gene was fused in-frame to 6$\times$ histidine at the C-terminus. The recombinant EHase (rSEH) was highly soluble and could be purified to apparent homogeneity by one step of metal affinity chromatography. The purified SEH displayed hydrolyzing activities toward various epoxides such as styrene oxide, glycidyl phenyl ether, epoxyhexane, epoxybutane, epichlorohydrin, and epifluorohydrin. The optimum activity toward styrene oxide was observed at pH 6.5 and $35^{\circ}C$. The purified SEH showed a cold-adapted property, displaying more than 40% of activity at low temperature of $10^{\circ}C$ compared with the optimum activity. Despite the catalytic efficiency, the purified SEH did not hydrolyze various epoxides enantioselectively. $K_m$ and $k_{cat}$ of SEH toward (R)-styrene oxide were calculated as 4$\pm$0.3 mM and 7.42$s^{-1}$ respectively, whereas $K_m$ and $k_{cat}$ of SEH toward (S)-styrene oxide were 5.25$\pm$0.3 mM and 10.08$s^{-1}$ respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.196-205
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• 2015

A Sulfolobus-E. coli shuttle vector for an efficient expression of the target gene in S. acidocaldarius strain was constructed. The plasmid-based vector pSM21 and its derivative pSM21N were generated based on the pUC18 and Sulfolobus cryptic plasmid pRN1. They carried the S. solfataricus P2 pyrEF gene for the selection marker, a multiple cloning site (MCS) with C-terminal histidine tag, and a constitutive promoter of the S. acidocaldarius gdhA gene for strong expression of the target gene, as well as the pBR322 origin and ampicillin-resistant gene for E. coli propagation. The advantage of pSM21 over other Sulfolobus shuttle vectors is that it contains a MCS and a histidine tag for the simple and easy cloning of a target gene as well as one-step purification by histidine affinity chromatography. For successful expression of the foreign genes, two genes from archaeal origins (PH0193 and Ta0298) were cloned into pSM21N and the functional expression was examined by enzyme activity assay. The recombinant PH0193 was successfully expressed under the control of the gdhA promoter and purified from the cultures by His-tag affinity chromatography. The yield was approximately 1 mg of protein per liter of cultures. The enzyme activity measurements of PH0913 and Ta0298 revealed that both proteins were expressed as an active form in S. acidocaldarius. These results indicate that the pSM21N shuttle vector can be used for the functional expression of foreign archaeal genes that form insoluble aggregates in the E. coli system.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.59-65
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• 1994

Growth-stimulating effects of cow's milk was examined using Vero cell cultre. Medium containing whole cow's milk stimulated cell growth about the same degree as that containing fetal bovine serum. The growth-stimulating factor in cow's milk was purified using hydrophobic (phenyl-sepharose) and gel filtration (Sephadex G-100) column chromatographies. It appeared that the factor is a highly hydrophobic protein, since the major growth-stimulating activity was found in the fractions eluted with 50% ethylene glycol from the phenyl-sepharose column during the purification. The purified factor showed a single band on the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of 1% (w/v) SDS. The factor has been found to have a relatively high molecular weight in the range of about Mr=100,000-150,000. In the presence of the purified factor (5%, w/v) in the culture medium, the incorporation of [3H]-thymidine into the cells was increased approximately 2,400-fold over that in the presence of 5% (w/v) fetal bovine serum. It seems that the growth-stimulating factor purified in this study is one of the major growth factors in the cow's milk.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.728-732
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• 2007

In the present article, a novel fusion expression vector for Escherichia coli was developed based on the pTORG plasmid, a derivative of pET32a. This vector, named pT7MT(GenBank Accession No DQ504436), carries a T7 promoter and it drives the downstream gene encoding Metallothionein 2A(MT2A). There are in-framed multiple cloning sites(MCS) downstream of the MT2A gene. A target gene can be cloned into the MCS and fused to the C-terminal of the MT2A gene in a compatible open reading frame(ORF) to achieve fusion expression. The metal-binding capability of MT2A allows the purification of fusion proteins by metal chelating affinity chromatography, known as $Ni^{2+}$-affinity chromatography. Using this expression vector, we successfully got the stable and high-yield expression of MT2A-GST and MT2A-Troponin I fusion proteins. These two proteins were easily purified from the supernatant of cell lysates by one-step $Ni^{2+}$-affinity chromatography. The final yields of MT2A-GST and MT2A-Troponin I were 30mg/l and 28mg/l in LB culture, respectively. Taken together, our data suggest that pT7MT can be applied as a useful expression vector for stable and high-yield production of fusion proteins.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.68-77
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• 2021

Cannabis is one of the most abused drugs in Korea. The main psychoactive component in cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is metabolized to 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THCCOOH) and THCCOOH-glucuronide (THCCOOH-glu) in the human liver, whereby the amount of THCCOOH-glu found in urine is twice as high as that of THCCOOH. The analytical process adapted by the majority of urine drug-testing programs involves a two-step method consisting of an initial immunoassay-based screening test followed by a confirmatory test if the screening test result is positive. In this study, a qualitative gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed and validated for the detection of THCCOOH in human urine, where THCCOOH-glu was converted into THCCOOH by alkaline hydrolysis. For purification of the urine extract prior to instrumental analysis, high-speed centrifugation was used to minimize interference. In addition, an injection-port derivatization method using ethyl acetate and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide containing 1 % trimethylchlorosilane was employed to reduce the time required for derivatization, and an aliquot of the final solution was injected into the GC-MS. The method was validated by measuring the selectivity, limit of detection (LOD), and repeatability. The sensitivity, specificity, precision, accuracy, Kappa, F-measure, false positive, and false negative rate were determined by comparing the GC-MS results with those obtained using the immunoassay. The LOD was determined to be 0.32 ng/mL, while the repeatability was within 9.1 % for THCCOOH. Furthermore, a comparison study was carried out, whereby the screening immunoassay exhibited a sensitivity of 86.4 % and a specificity of 100 % compared to GC-MS. The applicability of the developed method was examined by analyzing spiked urine and forensic urine samples obtained from suspected cannabis abusers (n = 221).