• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.205-214
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• 2020

Cyanobacteria are microorganisms which have important roles in the nitrogen cycle due to their ability to fix nitrogen in water and soil ecosystems. They also produce valuable materials that may be used in various industries. However, some species of cyanobacteria may limit the use of water resources by causing harmful algal blooms in water ecosystems. Many culture collection depositories provide cyanobacterial strains for research, but their systematic preservation is not well-developed in Korea. In this study, we developed a method for the cryopreservation of the cyanobacteria Trichormus variabilis (syn. Anabaena variabilis), using alginate microcapsules. Two approaches were used for the experiments and their outputs were compared. One of the methods involved the cryopreservation of cells using only a cryoprotectant and the other used the cryoprotectant within microcapsules. After cryopreservation for 35 days, cells preserved with both methods were successfully regenerated from the initial 1.0 × 10⁵ cells/ml to a final concentration of 6.7 × 10⁶ cells/ml and 1.1 × 10⁷ cells/ml. Irregular T. variabilis shapes were found after 14 days of regeneration. T. variabilis internal structures were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), revealing that lipid droplets were reduced after cryopreservation. The expression of the mreB gene, known to be related to cell morphology, was downregulated (54.7%) after cryopreservation. Cryopreservation using cryoprotectant alone or with microcapsules is expected to be applicable to other filamentous cyanobacteria in the future.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.2 s.26
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• pp.290-301
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• 1989

This is preliminary report on anthrax epidemic occurred in an island with about 100 residents. Since 1982 there had been sudden deaths among all kinds of domestic animals including cattle, dogs, ducks, chicken and goat but only a few among cats in an isolated island about three hours distance away by ferry boat from Mokpo city. From 1986 through 1988 nine human deaths and four patients occurred, which made the government intervene for investigation on June 25 1988. The epidemiological investigation consisted of interview survey and medical examination, medical record analysis, laboratory work to isolate the pathogens under the direction of hypothesis derived from the study and further confirmation of the pathogens by international institute. The summarized results are as followings: 1. According to the interview survey there were many deaths among domestic animals usually in cold and dry season such as January through March and September through November; 36 heads of cattle leaving one head, more than 40 hogs(all), hundreds of chicken leaving few alive, goats that had taken home from mountain and two or three cats out of around 40 had sudden deaths from 1982 till 1985, when the residents stopped to purchase and take them into the island anymore. Also there were eleven persons who had experienced the similar syndrome complex to those of admitted and expired patients and four of them revealed typical chest X-ray findings; from one of these four patients(Rho) B. anthracis is isolated. 2. Medical record on patients who had been admitted, showed common characteristics of the disease course. On admission they had either gastrointestinal or upper respiratory infection symptoms which invariably progressed to septicemic nature with pulmonary interstitial infiltration and mediastinal widening/bulging, and then to deadly acute respiratory distress syndrome. At the end stage chest X-ray revealed multiple bullous emphysema. One of another characteristics was oral ulceration with bleeding occurred in about 50% of the patients. Laboratory test results in common were leukocytosis with left shift and abnormal liver and kidney functions, particularly at the later stage of the illness. 3. Epidemiological characteristics was striking in that both mortality and incidence rates were high: the mortality rate was 8.7% average, male being three times higher than females but there was no distictive clustering by age group. The incidence rate for both sexes was 28.2% and there was no sex difference although a tendency of higher incidence among older ages was noticed. The highest mortality and incidence were observed in Won village where the first death of animal occurred and with the highest frequency among three villages of the island. 4. Among twelve bacilli species isolated from various specimens, two strains, one from patient and the other from soil where the recently died cow is hurried, were confirmed as B. anthracis by Pasteur Institute and CDC of USA(strain from soil). CDC reported that the strain did not produce capsule in bicarbonate media but reacted with the bacteriophage and one of five sera taken from the patients. Mode of transmission as well as incubation period of the agent has not been established yet, which needs further investigation in relation to the antigenic structure of the variant when it is confirmed.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2004

The purpose of this work was to investigate the relationships between acrylamide degradation by Pseudomonas sp. JK-7 and several relevant physicochemical environment parameters. In initial experiments, the bacterial culture, strain JK-7 isolated from paddy soil sample was developed to grow aerobically with acrylamide as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. The bacterium was identified as genus Pseudomonas in the basis of use BIOLOG test, and designated as Pseudomunas sp. JK-7. Strain JK-7 could degrade 50 mM acrylamide completely within 72 hours of incubation. Major intermediates resulting from acrylamide degradation were not detected with the HPLC methodology except acrylic acid which appeared to accumulate transiently in the growth medium. The pH increased from 7.0 to 8.7 with complete degradation of the initial 50 mM acrylamide within 72 hours of incubation. pH control in the range of 5 to 9 influenced the growth of JK-7 and acrylamide degradation, whereas it was not examined the growth and degradation at pH 3 or pH 11, respectively. The effect of supplemented carbons (e.g., glucose, fructose, citrate, succinate) on the acrylamide degradation by the test culture of JK-7 was evaluated. The results indicated that the addition of carbons accelerated the bacterial growth and acrylamide degradation compared to those in the absence of supplemented carbons. The effect of supplemented nitrogens on the degradation was monitored. Increasing concentrations of yeast extract resulted in higher growth yield, based on the turbidity measurement, and complete degradation of acrylamide. However, acrylamide degradation was essentially uninfluenced by the addition of $(NH_{4})_{2}SO_{4}$, $NH_4Cl$ or urea. Addition of $AgNO_3$, $CuSO_4$ or $HgCl_2$ except $ZnSO_4$ in the test culture inhibited the degradation of acrylamide and growth of JK-7.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2011

The accidental releases of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) due to oil spills frequently ended up with soil and ground water pollution. TPH may be degraded through physicochemical and biological processes in the environment but with relatively slow rates. In this study an attempt has been made to develop an integrated chemical and biological treatment technology in order to establish an efficient and environment-friendly restoration technology for the TPH contaminated soils. A Fenton-like reaction was employed as a preceding chemical treatment process and a bioaugmentation process utilizing a diesel fuel degrader consortium was subsequently applied as a biological treatment process. An efficient chemical removal of TPH from soils occurred when the surfactant OP-10S (0.05%) and oxidants ($FeSO_4$ 4%, and $H_2O_2$ 5%) were used. Bioaugmentation of the degrader consortium into the soil slurry led to an increase in their population density at least two orders of magnitude, indicating a good survival of the degradative populations in the contaminated soils ($10^8-10^9$ CFU/g slurry). TPH removal efficiencies for the Fenton-treated soils increased by at least 57% when the soils were subjected to bioaugmentation of the degradative consortium. However, relatively lower TPH treatment efficiencies (79-83%) have been observed in the soils treated with Fenton and the degraders as opposed to the control (95%) that was left with no treatment. This appeared to be due to the presence of free radicals and other oxidative products generated during the Fenton treatment which might inhibit their degradation activity. The findings in this study will contribute to development of efficient bioremediation treatment technologies for TPH-contaminated soils and sediments in the environment.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.222-227
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• 2009

The seasonal variation of bacterial populations in the Korean cattle (Hanwoo) feedlots dispersed in the 20 cities of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea, was monitored for two years (2006 and 2007) to provide quantitative criteria for good agricultural management. Outside the feedlots, the average falling bacterial populations of the air were $3{\pm}1$ CFU/$cm^2\cdot15$ min (n=63) in a year. Inside the feedlots, the average falling bacterial populations of the air were $8{\pm}1$ CFU/$cm^2\cdot15$ min (n=63) in the spring, $16{\pm}2$ CFU/$cm^2\cdot15$ min (n=69) in the summer, $7{\pm}2$ CFU/$cm^2\cdot15$ min (n=69) in the autumn, and $6{\pm}1$ CFU/$cm^2\cdot15$ min (n=70) in the winter. Without using the summer data, the average falling bacterial population of the air was $7{\pm}1$ CFU/$cm^2\cdot15$ min, which was not statistically significant (P=0.37). The average bacterial populations in the cattle drinking water of the cattle feedlots were $4,710{\pm}780$ CFU/ml (n=65) in the spring, $10,430{\pm}1170$ CFU/ml (n=65) in the summer, $4,820{\pm}700$ CFU/ml (n=64) in the autumn, and $2,510{\pm}530$ CFU/ml (n=64) in the winter. Without using the summer data, the average bacterial population of the drinking water was $4,000{\pm}400$ CFU/ml, which was statistically significant (P=0.027). The average frequency of Escherichia coli O157 inside the feedlots was 5% (n=65) in the spring, 72% (n=65) in the summer, 67% (n=66) in the autumn, and 29% (n=66) in the winter on the basis of soil samples of the year 2007. The results indicate that most of the Escherichia coli O157 strains distributed in the summer and autumn was disappeared in the spring through the cold weather of the winter.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.201-209
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• 2014

This study was carried out in order to develop a biological control of anthracnose of red pepper caused by fungal pathogens. In particular, this study focuses on the Colletotrichum species, which includes important fungal pathogens causing a great deal of damage to red pepper. Antagonistic bacteria were isolated from the soil of pepper fields, which were then tested for biocontrol activity against the Colletotrichum gloeosporioides anthracnose pathogen of pepper. Based on the 16S rRNA sequence analysis, the isolated bacterial strain CS-52 was identical to Bacillus sp. The culture broth of Bacillus sp. CS-52 had antifungal activity toward the hyphae and spores of C. gloeosporioides. Moreover, the substances with antifungal activity were optimized when Bacillus sp. CS-52 was grown aerobically in a medium composed of 0.5% glucose, 0.7% $K_2HPO_4$, 0.2% $KH_2PO_4$, 0.3% $NH_4NO_3$, 0.01% $MnSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, and 0.15% yeast extract at $30^{\circ}C$. The inhibition of spore formation resulting from cellulase, siderophores, and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), were produced at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h, respectively. Bacillus sp. CS-52 also exhibited its potent fungicidal activity against anthracnose in an in vivo test, at a level of 70% when compared to chemical fungicides. These results identified substances with antifungal activity produced by Bacillus sp. CS-52 for the biological control of major plant pathogens in red pepper. Further studies will investigate the synergistic effect promoting better growth and antifungal activity by the formulation of substances with antifungal activity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.362-371
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• 1996

This study was conducted to investigate the biochemical properties of isolated bacteria, low temperature tolerant methanogens which were selected for use as inoculum for anaerobic fermentation of agricultural and livestock wasted at low temperature. The results, obtained were summarized as follows: Low temperature tolerant methanogens were isolated from the samples which showed the high methanogenesis rate by enrichment culture at low temperature in methanol medium. These methanogens, Methanobacterium M-251 and Methanobacterium M-253 were isolated from swampy sediment at latitude $56.9^{\circ}$, Methanosarcina mazei M-372 from lake sediment IV at latitude $55.0^{\circ}$ N, and Methanobacterium formicicum M-375 from tidal land soil at latitude $37.0^{\circ}N$, respectively. The isolated anaerobic bacteria could not use sugars as carbon sources. The optimum pH value for the growth of M-251 and M-375 was 6.8, but those for M-253 and M-372 6.5 and 7.0, respectively. The minimum growth temperature of isolated, M-251 and M-253 were $8^{\circ}C$ and the optimum temperature $30^{\circ}C$, while the minimum of M-392 and M-395 were $13^{\circ}C$ and the optimum $37^{\circ}C$. The growth rate of isolates at $17.5^{\circ}C$ were lower by 32-50% than that of $30^{\circ}C$. The isolated Methanobacterium strains such as M-251, M-253, and M-375 have lower cell yield, 0.38-1.21g/1M $CH_4$ than 1.14-1.51g/1M $CH_4$ of Methanosarcina mazei M-372.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.342-347
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• 2004

A bacterial strain YC4963 with antifungal activity against Colletotrichum orbiculare, a causal organism of cucumber anthracnose was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Siegesbeckia pubescens Makino in Korea. Based on physiological and biochemical characteristics and 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis, the bac­terial strain was identified as Pseudomonas aurantiaca. The bacteria also inhibited mycelial growth of several plant fungal pathogens such as Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani on PDA and 0.1 TSA media. The antifungal activity was found from the culture filtrate of this isolate and the active compound was quantitatively bound to XAD adsorption resin. The antibiotic compound was purified and identified as phenazine-l-carboxylic acid on the basis of combined spectral and chemical analyses data. This is the first report on the production of phenazine-l-carboxylic acid by Pseudomonas aurantiaca.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.97-107
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• 2015

Wetlands constitute a transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and have unique characteristics such as frequent inundation, inflow of nutrients from terrestrial ecosystems, presence of plants adapted to grow in water, and soil that is occasionally oxygen deficient due to saturation. These characteristics and the presence of vegetation determine physical and chemical properties that affect decomposition rates of organic matter (OM). Decomposition of OM is associated with activities of various extracellular enzymes (EE) produced by bacteria and fungi. Extracellular enzymes convert macromolecules to simple compounds such as labile organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S) that can be easily taken up by microbes and plants. Therefore, the enzymatic approach is helpful to understand the decomposition rates of OM and nutrient cycling in wetland soils. This paper reviews the physical and biogeochemical factors that regulate extracellular enzyme activities (EEa) in wetland soils, including those of ${\beta}$-glucosidase, ${\beta}$-N-acetylglucosaminidase, phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and phenol oxidase that decompose organic matter and release C, N, P, and S nutrients for microbial and plant growths. Effects of pH, water table, and particle size of OM on EEa were not significantly different among sites, whereas the influence of temperature on EEa varied depending on microbial acclimation to extreme temperatures. Addition of C, N, or P affected EEa differently depending on the nutrient state, C:N ratio, limiting factors, and types of enzymes of wetland soils. Substrate quality influenced EEa more significantly than did other factors. Also, drainage of wetland and increased temperature due to global climate change can stimulate phenol oxidase activity, and anthropogenic N deposition can enhance the hydrolytic EEa; these effects increase OM decomposition rates and emissions of $CO_2$ and $CH_4$ from wetland systems. The researches on the relationship between microbial structures and EE functions, and environmental factors controlling EEa can be helpful to manipulate wetland ecosystems for treating pollutants and to monitor wetland ecosystem services.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2011

To work out quality control methods of environmental-friendly organic materials (EFOMs), the reason and basis for EFOM-selection and farmer's favorite formulation type of EFOMs, etc were investigated on farmers who had been practicing environmental-friendly agriculture. EFOMs used were soil amendments, control agents of plant diseases and insect pests, plant growth promotion formulations, in turns. In EFOMs application time, 22.7% of farmers sprayed EFOMs without delay after they were bought, in other hand, 77.3% of farmers used EFOMs which had been bought and stored for some period. Microbial density on seventeen environmental-friendly microbial formulates (EFMFs) including microbial pesticides, a microbial fertilizer, and environmental-friendly organic materials was investigated at different storing temperature and shelf life. When the microbial density of EFMFs was investigated without delay after they were bought, all used microbial pesticides and a microbial fertilizer was confirmed to be optimal for the certified density but two of environmental-friendly organic materials was confirmed not to be optimal. When microbial density of 17 EFMFs were investigated after storing them for six months at $4^{\circ}C$, only one of 9 microbial pesticides was confirmed not to be optimal, the other hand four of seven environmental-friendly organic materials not to be optimal, which each of their microbial density was less than the certified density. Population dynamics of microbial agents was much more influenced in fluctuated temperature (room temperature) than in static temperature condition ($5^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$). Shelf life of microbial agents according to microbial formulation type were high in granule type, liquid wettable type and liquid type in turns.