• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1995 no.05
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• pp.223-226
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• 1995

Polymers have been developed and applied in many biomedical areas as well as engineering and industrial fields. The first essential to achieve successful development and applications is that properties of such polymer materials would be investigated. In many cases, such investigations are accomplished by observing polymeric behavior arising from the environmental changes such as pH, temperature, and ionic concentration. It has long been known that NMR is extremely sensitive to many biochemical and physical changes occurring in the polymer samples. In the present study we focus our study on NMR Microimaging, which is one of the important NMR applications, to characterize the swelling effect by observing the time dependent spatial variations of polymer specimens. For the samples three kinds of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) specimens are prepared with different degrees of cross linking density. $^1H$ NMR microimages are acquired as a function of time to visualize the swelling behavior as well as volumetric changes occurring in the specimens. From the acquired time dependent images, the swelling process is exploited.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 1995

The bacterial strain WC-17 able to produce chitinase was isolated from soil using an enrichment technique. The isolated strain was identified as Acinetobacter sp. judging by their morphological and physiological characterisitics. The optimal culture conditions for the production of chitinase of Acinetobacter sp. WC -17 are 1.5% colloidal chitin and 1 % tryptone at $30^{\circ}C$ with pH 6.5. Since the enzyme was rapidly produced in a culture supplied with chitin, glucose, or N-acetylglucosamine but not with other polymers and monosaccharide, the enzyme was considered to be an inducible enzyme. Notably N- acetylglucosamine and glucose were found to be effective inducers at low concentrations but repressors at excessive concentrations. The cultural supernatant of Acinetobacter sp. WC-17 inhibited the growth of phytopathogenic fungi such as P.oryzae, R.solani, and F.solani. Among the phytopathogenic fungi tested, P.oryzae was the most sensitive. The conventional agar plate (PDA containing 1 % colloidal chitin) method also produced the same result.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.229-235
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• 1990

A rapid and sensitive method to detect the extracellular enzymatic activity of bacteria colonies grown on agar plates is described. Selective agar media supplemented with protein, starch, chitin, Tween-80, etc. are conventionally used to detect biochemical properties of bacteria. It has been experimentally demonstrated with bacteria pure cultures that fluorogenic Methylumbelliferyl (MUF)-substrates are excellent substrate analogues for normally occurring polymers. Based on MUF-substrate hydrolysis the new method provides reliable qualitative estimates of extracellular enzymatic properties of bacteria within minutes using pure cultures as well as agar p;ates prepared for colony counts. Extracellular enzyme activities of heterotrophic bacteria from freshwater ecosystems and marine sediment using this method are discussed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.105-119
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• 2012

Indigenous bacteria isolated from contaminated sites play important roles to remediate contaminated groundwater. Chromium has the most stable oxidation states. Cr(VI) is toxic, carcinogenic, and mobile, but Cr(III) is less toxic and immobile. In this study, indigenous microorganism (MMPH-0) was enriched from Cr(VI) contaminated groundwater, and identified by 16S rRNA gene analysis. Using MMPH-0, the effect of stimulating with e-donors (glucose, lactate, acetate, and no e-donor control), respiration conditions, biomass, tolerance, and geochemical changes on Cr(VI) reduction were investigated in batch experiments for 4 weeks. The changes of Cr(VI) concentration and geochemical conditions were monitored using UV-vis-spectrophotometer and Eh-pH meter. And the morphological and chemical characteristics of MMPH-0 and precipitates in the effluents were characterized by TEM-EDS and SEM-EDS analyses. MMPH-0 (Enterobacter aerogenes) was able to tolerate up to 2000 mg/L Cr(VI) and reduce Cr(VI) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. MMPH-0 performed faster and higher efficiency of Cr(VI) reduction with electron donors (over 70% after 1 week with e-donor, 10-20% after 4 weeks without e-donor). The changes of Eh-pH in effluents showing the tendency from oxidizing to reducing condition and a bit of acidic change in pH due to microbial oxidation of organic matters donating electrons and protons suggested the roles of MMPH-0 on Cr(VI) in the contaminated water catalyzing to transit geochemical stable zone for more stable $Cr(OH)_3$ or Cr(III) precipitates. TEM/SEM-EDS analyses of MMPH-0 and precipitates indicate direct and indirect Cr(VI) reduction: extracellular polymers capturing Cr component outside cells. These results suggested diverse indigenous bacteria and their biogeochemical reactions might enhance more effective and feasible remediation technology of redox sensitive heavy metals in metal-contaminated in groundwater.