• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2019

An auxin-producing bacterium Yangsong-1 was isolated from a button mushroom bed in Chung cheongnam-do. The strain Yangsong-1 was classified as a novel strain of Arthrobacter enclensis based on a chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analysis. The isolated A. enclensis Yangsong-1 was confirmed to produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), which is one of the auxin hormones. When the concentration of IAA was assessed by HPLC quantity analysis, the maximum concentration of IAA, $152.903mg\;L^{-1}$, was detected from the culture broth incubated in R2A medium containing 0.2% L-tryptophan for 48 h at $35^{\circ}C$. A negative relationship between IAA production and pH was estimated to show that the increase in IAA caused pH acidification of the culture. The effect of the supplement on L-tryptophan, a known precursor of IAA production, appeared to be at maximal production at 0.2% concentration and was rather reduced at concentration above 0.4%. To investigate the growth-promoting effects on the crops, the culture broth of A. enclensis Yangsong-1 was placed in water cultures and seed pots of mung beans and lettuce. In consequence, the adventitious root induction and root growth of mung beans and lettuce were 1.5 and 1.9 times higher, respectively, than those of the control.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.463-470
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• 2018

Restoration ecology is the practical study of renewing and restoring a spoilt, degraded, or devastated ecosystems in the environment. Because the Korean industry has been drastically developed for the past few decades, the Korean ecosystem requires restoration using regional seed. In this study, we identified the variation of phylogenic relationship of Miscanthus sinensis or Phragmites australis by locations in Korea. Chloroplast DNA atpF-H and psbA-trnH interspace region were used as a molecular marker to resolve the phylogenic relationship in 10 different locations. We performed the molecular phylogenetic analysis with 10 chloroplast DNAs from each location using Kimura 2-parameter. The analysis of Miscanthus showed that all atpF-H genes were exact matches except for Ose san. In contrast to Mischanthus, the atpF-H genes from Phragmites were observed to have more variation. A total of 7 locations revealed the variation in chloroplast gene. According to the phylogenic tree in Phragmites, 2 of 10 samples in 6 locations and 3 of 10 in 1 location showed variation with 0.160-0.181 genetic distance. According to the genetic distance of the Miscanthus sinensis, there were no mutations in all regions except the Hongsung. These results support regional differences and show the necessity for seed collection by region. In the case of Phragmites australis, genetic variation occurred in all regions.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.242-247
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• 2019

Biological factors (e.g. microorganism activity) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) play essential roles for degradation and/or removal of organic matters. In this study, to understand the microbial functional roles in WWTP, we tried to isolate and characterize a bacterial strain from activated sludge sample. Strain S16 was isolated from the activated sludge of a municipal WWTP in Daejeon metropolitan city, the Republic of Korea. The cells were a Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, facultative anaerobe, and rod-shaped. Strain S16 grew at a temperature of $15{\sim}40^{\circ}C$ (optimum, $30^{\circ}C$), with 0~9.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 1.0~2.0%), and at pH 5.5~9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0~7.5). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain S16 was most closely related to the unique species Miniimonas arenae NBRC $106267^T$ (99.79%, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) of the genus Miniimonas. The cell wall contained alanine, glutamic acid, serine, and ornithine. Although the isolation source of the type strain NBRC $106267^T$ which considered as a marine microorganism is sea sand, that of strain S16 is terrestrial environment. It might raise an ecological question for habitat transition. Therefore, comparative genome analysis will be valuable investigation for shedding light on their potential metabolic traits and genomic streamlining.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1126-1135
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• 2019

From a sample of bamboo byproduct, the protease-producing yeast strain CO-1 was newly isolated. Strain CO-1 is spherical to ovoid in shape and measures $3.1-4.0{\times}3.8-4.4{\mu}m$. For the growth of strain CO-1, the optimal temperature and initial pH were $30^{\circ}C$ and 4.0, respectively. The strain was able to grow in 0.0-15.0%(w/v) NaCl and 0.0-9.0%(v/v) ethanol. Based on a phylogenetic analysis of its 18S rDNA sequences, strain CO-1 was identified as Pichia anomala. The extracellular protease produced by P. anomala CO-1 was partially purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, which resulted in a 14.6-fold purification and a yield of 7.2%. The molecular mass of the protease was recorded as approximately 30 kDa via zymogram. The protease activity reached its maximum when 1.0%(w/v) CMC was used as the carbon source, 1.0%(w/v) yeast extract was used as the nitrogen source, and 0.3%(w/v) $MnSO_4$ was used as the mineral source. The protease revealed the highest activity at pH 7.0 and $30^{\circ}C$. This enzyme maintained more than 75% of its stability at a pH range of 4.0-10.0. After heating at $65^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr, the neutral protease registered at 60% of its original activity. The protease production coincided with growth and attained a maximal level during the post-exponential phase.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.248-255
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• 2019

This research confirmed the diversity and characterization of gut microorganisms isolated from the intestinal organs of Muraenesox cinereus, collected on the Samcheonpo Coast and Seocheon Coast in South Korea. To isolate strains, Marine agar medium was basically used and cultivated at $37^{\circ}C$ and pH7 for several days aerobically. After single colony isolation, totally 49 pure single-colonies were isolated and phylogenetic analysis was carried out based on the result of 16S rRNA gene DNA sequencing, indicating that isolated strains were divided into 3 phyla, 13 families, 15 genera, 34 species and 49 strains. Proteobacteria phylum, the main phyletic group, comprised 83.7% with 8 families, 8 genera and 26 species of Aeromonadaceae, Pseudoalteromonadaceae, Shewanellaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Morganellaceae, Moraxellaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, and Vibrionaceae. To confirm whether isolated strain can produce industrially useful enzyme or not, amylase, lipase, and protease enzyme assays were performed individually, showing that 39 strains possessed at least one enzyme activity. Especially the Aeromonas sp. strains showed all enzyme activity tested. This result indicated that isolated strains have shown the possibility of the industrial application. Therefore, this study has contributed for securing domestic genetic resources and the expansion of scientific knowledge of the gut microbial community in Muraenesox cinereus of South Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.84-89
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• 2019

Previous screening of novel antibacterial agents revealed that some bacterial isolates exhibited antibiotic activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and that they showed antibacterial activity, even against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Among these isolates, one bacterial strain, BCNU 1204, was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa using phenetic and phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences. The maximum productivities of antimicrobial substances of BCNU 1204 were obtained after being cultured at $35^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0 for 4 d in King's medium B (KMB). Dichloromethane (DCM) and ethylacetate (EA) extracts of P. aeruginosa BCNU 1204 exhibited strong antimicrobial activity, particularly against gram-positive bacteria. The EA extracts exhibited broad-spectrum activity against antibiotic resistant strains. Fraction 5-2, was obtained by recycling preparative liquid chromatography (LC) and preparative thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and was identified as phenazine-1-carboxylic acid belonging to phenazines using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were $25{\mu}g/ml$, $50{\mu}g/ml$, ${\geq}25{\mu}g/ml$, and ${\geq}50{\mu}g/ml$ for MRSA CCARM 3089, 3090, 3091, and 3095 strains, respectively. P. aeruginosa BCNU 1204 may be a potential resource for the development of anti-MRSA antibiotics. Additional research is required to identify the active substance from P. aeruginosa BCNU 1204.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.524-529
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• 2019

Medicinal plants resources are becoming important assets since their usages have been expanded to the development of functional foods for human health, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. However, their phylogenetic origins and names are different from each country and quite often they are mixed each other resulting in the confusion for consumers. Particularly when they are very similar based on their morphological characteristics and distributed, it is extremely difficult to differentiate their origins even by specialists. Therefore, identification of each plant species is important for standardizing herbal medicine. Thistle is a medicinal and perennial plant. Obtaining information about the genetic diversity of plant populations is highly important for conservation and germplasm utilization. Although thistle is an important medicinal plant species registered in South Korea, no molecular markers are currently available to distinguish from other similar species from different countries. In this study, we developed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers derived from chloroplast genomic sequences to identify distinct Korean-specific thistle species via high resolution melting (HRM) curve analyses. We performed molecular authentication of four different kinds of thistle species from different regions using DNA sequences in the trnL-F and matK chloroplast intergenic region. The SNP markers developed in this study are useful for rapidly identifying specific thistle species from different country.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.614-628
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• 2019

Objective: The inhibitory leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptors (LILRBs) play an important role in innate immunity. The present study represents the first description of the cloning and structural and functional analysis of LILRB1 and LILRB3 isolated from two genetically disparate chicken lines. Methods: Chicken LILRB1-3 genes were identified by bioinformatics approach. Expression studies were performed by transfection, quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Signal transduction was analyzed by western blots, immunoprecipitation and flow cytometric. Cytokine levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Amino acid homology and phylogenetic analyses showed that the homologies of LILRB1 and LILRB3 in the chicken line 6.3 to those proteins in the chicken line 7.2 ranged between 97%-99%, while homologies between chicken and mammal proteins ranged between 13%-19%, and 13%-69%, respectively. Our findings indicate that LILRB1 and LILRB3 subdivided into two groups based on the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIM) present in the transmembrane domain. Chicken line 6.3 has two ITIM motifs of the sequence LxYxxL and SxYxxV while line 7.2 has two ITIM motifs of the sequences LxYxxL and LxYxxV. These motifs bind to SHP-2 (protein tyrosine phosphatase, non-receptor type 11) that plays a regulatory role in immune functions. Moreover, our data indicate that LILRB1 and LILRB3 associated with and activated major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and ${\beta}2-microglobulin$ and induced the expression of transporters associated with antigen processing, which are essential for MHC class I antigen presentation. This suggests that LILRB1 and LILRB3 are transcriptional regulators, modulating the expression of components in the MHC class I pathway and thereby regulating immune responses. Furthermore, LILRB1 and LILRB3 activated Janus kinase2/tyrosine kinase 2 (JAK2/TYK2); signal transducer and activator of transcription1/3 (STAT1/3), and suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 genes expressed in Macrophage (HD11) cells, which induced Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokines. Conclusion: These data indicate that LILRB1 and LILRB3 are innate immune receptors associated with SHP-2, MHC class I, ${\beta}2-microglobulin$, and they activate the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription signaling pathway. Thus, our study provides novel insights into the regulation of immunity and immunopathology.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.319-328
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• 2021

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is one of the most destructive viruses worldwide, which causes severe damage to economically important crops, such as pepper and tomato. In this study, we examined the molecular and biological characterization of a TSWV isolate (SW-TO2) infecting tomato and compared it to the recently reported isolates from boxthorn, butterbur, and angelica plants. The phylogenetic analysis based on the complete genome sequences confirmed that SW-TO2 was clustered with those of isolates from boxthorn and pepper in Korea with the maximum nucleotide identities ranging from 98% to 99%. We developed the bioassay method for screening TSWV resistance and tested some commercial pepper and tomato cultivars for resistance evaluation of four isolates of TSWV. TSWV resistance was evaluated as TSWV resistance when all the following three conditions were satisfied: first, when symptoms of necrotic spots or no symptoms were present in the inoculated leaves; second, when there were no symptoms in the upper leaves; and third, when the upper leaves were negative as a result of RT-PCR diagnosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1210-1217
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• 2021

Two gram-negative, catalase-positive, strictly aerobic, and white colony-forming bacteria, strains H242^T and B156^T, were isolated from soil in South Korea. Cells of strain H242^T were oxidase-positive and non-motile short rods, while those of strain B156^T were oxidase-negative and long non-motile rods. Ubiquinone-8 was identified as the sole isoprenoid quinone in both strains. C_16:0, cyclo-C_17:0, andsummed feature 3 (C_16:1 ω7c and/or C_16:1 ω6c) and phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and diphosphatidylglycerol were identified in both strains as the major cellular fatty acids and polar lipids, respectively. The DNA G+C contents of strains H242^T and B156^T were 69.4 mol% and 69.3 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA and 92 concatenated core gene sequences revealed that strains H242^T and B156^T formed distinct phylogenic lineages from other Ramlibacter type strains. The DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH) value between strains H242^T and B156^T was 24.6%. Strains H242^T and B156^T were most closely related to Ramlibacter ginsenosidimutans BXN5-27^T and Ramlibacter monticola G-3-2^T with 98.4% and 98.6% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, respectively. Digital DDH values between strain H242^T and R. ginsenosidimutans and between strain B156^T and R. monticola were 23.5% and 26.1%, respectively. Phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and molecular analyses indicated that strains H242^T and B156^T represent two novel species of the genus Ramlibacter, for which the names Ramlibacter terrae sp. nov. and Ramlibacter montanisoli sp. nov., respectively, are proposed. The type strains of R. terrae and R. montanisoli are H242^T (=KACC 21667^T=JCM 33922^T) and B156^T (=KACC 21665^T=JCM 33920^T), respectively.