• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.198-203
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• 2016

This study aimed to isolate a novel agarase-producing marine bacterium and characterize its agarase, as agarases are known to produce biofunctional agarooligosaccharides or neo-agarooligosaccharides. A novel agar-degrading bacterium, SH-2, was isolated from the seawater of Namhae in Gyeongnam Province, Korea, and cultured in Marine agar 2216 medium. The 16S rRNA gene sequence represented 99% identity with that of the members of the Marinomonas genus; hence, the isolated bacterium was named Marinomonas sp. SH-2. The crude agarase was prepared from a culture medium of Marinomonas. sp SH-2, and exhibited maximum agarase activity at 170.2 units/l. The optimum conditions were pH 6.0 and 30℃ in 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer. The agarase activity of the bacterium was highly elevated from 20℃(42% relative activity) to 30℃(100%), and 82% activity was shown at 40℃. Its relative activities were less than 40% at over 40℃ after a 0.5 hr exposure. Relative activity was 100% at pH 6.0, while it was 72% and 48% at pH 5.0 and pH 7.0, respectively. The enzyme from Marinomonas sp. SH-2 degraded agarose to neoagarohexaose and neoagarotetraose, indicating that the enzyme is β-agarase. Thus, Marinomonas sp. SH-2 and its enzyme could be practical for applications in food, cosmetic, and medical research.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.3 s.83
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• pp.318-327
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• 2007

This study presents the molecular phylogenetic analysis of Korean Aurelia aurita Linnaeus collected from Yeosu in the southern waters of Korea using nuclear ITS1 region and mitochondrial COI gene sequences. The use of oligonucleotide primers F5 (forward) and R5 (reverse) targeted to ITS1 and LCO1490 (forward) and HCO2198 (reverse) targeted to COI amplified 267 bp and 643 bp fragments, respectively. The shortest genetic distance towards the ITS1 region is estimated at 0.023 when comparing Korean A. aurita to Aurelia sp. collected from California, USA. In particular, Korean and American/Swedish A. aurita were located far away in terms of genetic distance, ranging from 0.393 to 0.395. On the other hand, the genetic distance between Korean and English/Turkish/Swedish/American A. aurita regarding the mitochondrial DNA COI gene ranged from 0.201 to 0.205. However, a sister-ship with Korean and American A. aurita showed an extremely high bootstrap value (100%). The predicted secondary RNA structure of the mitochondrial DNA COI gene showed many different folding structures with a similar energy between Korean and American A. aurita. These results suggest that ITS1 and the mitochondrial DNA COI gene could be used as genetic markers for identification of the biogeographic populations.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.164-170
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• 2005

To investigate the aquatic environmental factors and processes controlling primary production in the Seomjin River estuary, chlorophyll a, nutrients, pH, SS, DO, temperature, salinity and primary productivity were measured in February, April, August and October, 2001. Primary productivity values ranged between 50.7 and 14,120.3 mg C $m^{-3} day^{-1}$ during the sampling period. In contrast to other estuaries, light condition did not seem to be the important limiting factor far primary production due to high water-column transparency during most of the time. The autumn bloom occurred in regions where salinity values ranged between 10 and 20 psu. This phenomenon appeared to develop every year and deserves further investigation. The behavior of nutrients, which is one of the major factors controlling the primary productivity, appeared to be governed by salinity regimes. The main source of nitrogenous nutrients seemed to be the freshwater runoff from the Seomjin River. However, that of phosphorus seemed to be from the industrial wastewater in Gwangyang area. The primary pro-duction of phytoplankton in the study area varied with space and time, showing a close correlation with water column transparency, and exhibited higher values compared to those of adjacent coastal regions in Gwangyang Bay.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.210-224
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• 2003

Sulfate reduction is a microbiological process which occurs ubiquitously in anaerobic marine environment. Sulfate reducing bacteria play a significant role in anaerobic decomposition of organic matter and regeneration of inorganic nutrients which supports the primary production in the water column (i.e., benthic-pelagic coupling) and, in special case, could be responsible for the harmful algal bloom in the coastal marine environment. Summary of the sulfate reduction rates reported in various marine sedimentary environments revealed that supply of organic substrates and presence of various electron acceptors (i.e., $O_2$, NO$_{3}$$^{[-10]}$ , Fe(III) and Mn(IV), etc.) for other aerobic and anaerobic respiration directly affect the sulfate reduction rate and relative significance of sulfate reduction in organic matter mineralization. Significance of temperature, macrophytes and bioturbation is discussed as factors controlling supply of organic substrates and distribution of electron acceptors. Finally, we suggest studies on the anaerobic microbiological processes associated with biogeochemical element cycles in the coastal environments of Korea where massive operation of organic enriched fish cage farm, frequent occurrence of toxic algal bloom and hypoxia and conservation of tidal flat are of major environmental issues.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.59-69
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• 2003

As part of study on the microbial food web in the southern Jeju Island of Korea, Planktonic tintinnids and aloricate oligotrichs were investigated from July 1998 to June 2000 to understand seasonal variation and water mass indication with environmental factors. 39 species of tintinnids were identified representing 1 order, 11 families, 20 genera. Tintinnid abundance ranged from 100 to 5,400 cells.1$^{-1}$ (mean 314 cells.1$^{-1}$ ), and oceanic species were mainly dominant in fall and winter season, while neritic species were a little pre- dominant in spring and summer season. 15 species of aloricate oligotrichs were identified representing 1 order, 5 families, 7 genera, and many belonged to genus Strombidium which was most abundant and most frequently occurred in many months. Abundance of aloricate oligotrichs ranged from 140 to 21,000 cells.1$^{-1}$ (mean 2,356 cells.1$^{-1}$ ). Species diversity and standing crops of tintinnids were quite different according to seasons, but few seasonal variations were detected in aloricate oligotrichs. In terms of water mass indication tintinnids represented obvious characteristics which were affected by marine environmental factors, but alor- icate oligotrichs had no such apparent indication as tintinnids. Ciliates were more abundant and more diverse in inshore than in offshore station. Total carbon biomass of ciliates ranged from 0.01 to 136.06 $\mu\textrm{g}$C.1$^{-1}$ (mean 5.01 $\mu\textrm{g}$C.1$^{-1}$ ). The carbon biomass, however, did not coincided with seasonal variations of abun- dance Vertical profiles of mean abundance of both tintinnids and aloricate oligotrichs were similar, and had same trend as those of mean chlorophyll o concentration. It suggests that phytoplankton and ciliates reflected the prey-predator relationship in the study area.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.94-110
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• 2003

This study utilizes the dataset of Topex/Poseidon(T/P) altimeter sea surface height (1992-2000 yr., 286 cycles)to investigate the tempore-spatial variability in the East (Japan) Sea. Optimal interpolation (Ol) technique was applied to the pre-processed T/P dataset (level 2) to produce sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) map on regular grids. Spectral analyses of the timeseries of the SSHA at chosen stations and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of the SSHA in the entire East Sea were made. Distribution of the SSHA can be divided by the southern and northern regions sharply by the polar front situated in the middle of the East Sea. The southern region under the direct influence of the Tsushima Current exhibits higher amplitude of the SSHA fluctuation, while the northern region does relatively smaller one. The spatio-temporal variability of the SSHA in the East Sea can be characterized by the five modes of the EOFs accounting for more than 85% of the total variance. The first mode dominates the SSHA variation in the entire domain with strong seasonal and inter-annual periods accounting for the 72.3% of the total variance. The other modes (up to 5th account for 14%) are responsible for the SSHA variation associated with the local current system, meandering of the polar frontal axis, and mesoscale eddies. Spectral peaks with significant confluence level show semi-annual, annual and interannual (2, 3-4 years) periods.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.369-379
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• 2003

Analysis of high-resolution seismic profiles and sediment data from the southeastern continental shelf of Korea reveals that the late Quaternary deposits consist of a set of lowstand (LST), transgressive (TST), and highstand systems tracts (HST) that corresponds to the sea-level change after the Last Glacial Maximum. LST (Unit I) above the sequence boundary consists of sandy mud or muddy sand deposited during the last glacial period and is confined to the shelf margin and trough region. TST (Unit II) between transgressive surface and maximum flooding surface consists of sandy sediments deposited during the postglacial transgression (15,000-6,000 yr BP). Although TST is widely distributed on the shelf, it is much thinner than LST and HST. On the basis of distribution pattern, TST can be divided into three sub-units: early TST (Unit IIa) on the shelf margin, middle TST (Unit IIb) on the mid-shelf, and late TST (Unit IIc) on the inner shelf, respectively. These are characterized by a backstepping depositional arrangement. HST(Unit III) above the maximum flooding surface is composed of the fine-grained sediments deposited during the last 6000 yrs when sea level was close to the present level and its distribution is restricted to the inner shelf along the coast.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.257-266
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• 2002

To estimate the nitrogen budget and assess the purification function of a tidal flat ecosystem, a field survey was carried out at Hajeon tidal flat in Gomso Bay, the southern part of Byeonsan Peninsula, Chollabuk-do, Korea. A study area of 3.0$\times$4.5 ㎢ was established on the tidal flat and the concentrations of chlorophyll-a, DIN, DON, and TN were measured in the water column during the period of April 17-18, 1999: From the budget analysis, the loss rate of Chl-a was estimated to be -0.05 mg Chl/㎡/hr, which is approximately 7% of that at Issiki tidal flat in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The lower loss rate of Chl-a in the study area was attributable to the lower standing crop of phytoplankton, the lower temperature that may reduce metabolic rates of biotic components and the lower biomass of macrobenthos in the study area. Over the 13.5 ㎢ of study area, Hajeon tidal flat removed 8.36$\times$10$\^$2/ kg N/day of TN, 5.36$\times$10$\^$3/ kg N/day of PON and 1.62$\times$10$\^$2/ kg N/day of phytoplankton-related PON, showing that the tidal flats may play an important role in removing nitrogen in coastal waters. The removal rate of PON, compared to the removal cost of the existing waste water treatment facilities, indicates that the economic value of the purification function of Hajeon tidal flat (13.5㎢) may be more than that of two large facilities.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.194-205
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• 1989

In order to study the biomass of primary producer, phytoplankton is collected monthly September 1985 to August 1986 in Ch$\check{o}$nsu Bay. Phytoplankton carbon contents which are calculated from phytoplankton volume were ranged from $26.7{\mu}gC/l$ to $960.7{\mu}gC/l$, and average carbon contents of each month lie in the range of $58.6-684.7{\mu}gC/l$(annual mean $208.5{\mu}gC/l$). For net plankton analysis with the carbon contents, cell numbers, and chlorophyll concentrations show a close correlation, while for nanoplankton the correlation was low, indicating that nano-fraction includes a significant portion of picoplankton. Also, the multiple regression analysis with carbon content, cell number, and chlorophyll concentration to size fraction well illustrate the prime importance of the net-fraction in phytoplankton group. C/Chl-a ratios ranged from 9.1 to 100.5, average rations of net- and nanoplankton are 111 and 6.4, respectively. The greater net plankton faction is, the higher C/Chl-a ratio is, however in case of high nanoplankton portion C/Chl-a ratio show low level. These results indicate that the difference of C/Chl-a ratio per phytoplankton cell size be main factor for the variation of C/Chl-a ratio in Ch$\check{o}$nsu Bay. As C/Chl-a ratio fluctuates greatly in coastal ecosystem, that use of a direct conversion of convert chlorophyll to organic carbon may lead erronous estimation.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.204-222
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• 1991

The annual cycles of plant major nutrients and dissolved oxygen in a nutrients-rich semi-enclosed coastal inlet, chinhae Bay, of the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula are first presented. The water column of the bay is stratified during summer (April-late September) and well0mixed during winter (October-March). During the summer stratification period, dissolved oxygen contents exceed 400uM in the surface but diminish to less than 50uM in the near bottom waters, which often results in an anoxic environment in the inner part of Chinhae Bay. After the breakdown of the stratification in October, dissolved oxygen concentration remains undersaturated until February. The evidence of allochthonous input of N-nutrients throughout the year is readily seen in the water column: however. crude budget calculations show that the nutrients are efficiently utilized within the bay ecosystem, and that export of the nutrients from the bay to the shelf must be negligible. There is no sign of the enrichment of the nutrients in the water column. The eutrophication phenomenon sensu stricto is not observed in chinhae Bay. Using the standing stock of dissolved oxygen and estimation of the oxygen fluxes across the air-sea boundary, a benthic oxygen respiration rate during winter is estimated conservatively at 21-24 mmol Cm/SUP -2/d/SUP -1/. this oxygen respiration rate accounts for about 20% of the total phytoplankton production in winter.