• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.296-302
• /
• 2012

A bacterial strain was isolated from soybean paste fermented in a Korean Buddhist temple as a producer of the extracellular thermostable ${\alpha}$-amylase. The isolate YB-1234 has been identified as Bacillus licheniformis on the basis of its 16S rDNA sequence, morphology and biochemical properties. A gene encoding the thermostable ${\alpha}$-amylase of B. licheniformis YB-1234 was cloned into Escherichia coli and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The deduced amino acid sequence of ${\alpha}$-amylase was very highly homologous to those of the thermostable ${\alpha}$-amylases of B. licheniformis belonging to the glycosyl hydrolase family 13. The ${\alpha}$-amylase produced by recombinant E. coli carrying the ${\alpha}$-amylase gene exhibited maximal activity at pH 6.0, identical to ${\alpha}$-amylase in the culture filtrate of B. licheniformis, while the temperature profile was somewhat different between the two. Particularly, ${\alpha}$-amylase produced from B. lcheniformis is much more thermostable than that from recombinant E. coli. The predominant products resulting from the ${\alpha}$-amylase hydrolysis were glucose, maltose and maltotriose for maltotetraose and maltohexaose.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.52 no.2
• /
• pp.175-182
• /
• 2016

In this study, we isolated aromatic compounds (lignin polymers) utilizing bacteria in humus layer of oak forest and investigated phylogenetic characteristics and correlation with major bacterial populations in the humus layer by pyrosequencing. Forty-two isolates using aromatic compounds such as p-anisic acid, benzoic acid, ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid were isolated and phylogentic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolates belonged to the genus Rhizobium, Sphingomonas, Burkhorlderia, and Pseudomonas. Among these, Burkhorlderia species which belong to Betaproteobacteria class occupied 83% among the isolates. The bacterial populations in humus layer of oak forest were characterized by next generation pyrosequencing based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The humus sample produced 7,862 reads, 1,821 OTUs and 6.76 variability index with 97% of significance level, respectively. Bacterial populations consist of 22 phyla and Betaproteobacteria were the major phylum consisting of 15 genera including Burkholderia, Polaromonas, Ralstoria, Zoogloea, and Variovorax. Approximately fifty percentage of them was Burkholderia. Burkholderia as the majority of population in the humus was considered to play a role in degrading lignin in humus layer of oak forest.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.163-169
• /
• 2017

Strains D4 and D5 were isolated from peach-rotten soil during the peach harvest season. The isolates were identified based on morphological and biochemical characterization, and identification was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results showed that D4 has high similarity to Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC $14917^T$ and Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC $8041^T$ at 99.05% and 98.98%, respectively. D5 was also similar to Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC $8041^T$ and Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC $14917^T$ at 98.71% and 98.64%, respectively. In contrast, isolates showed differences in carbohydrate utilization in comparison to Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC $14917^T$ and Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC $8041^T$. In view of this we performed VITEK MS matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis, multiplex PCR fingerprinting, and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR to further confirm the identification of D4 and D5. The results of these analyses showed that both strains were most similar to Lactobacillus plantarum.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.326-332
• /
• 2008

Various bacteria were isolated from Korean soil samples based on their capability inhibiting the growth of MRSA strains. Among them, strain YK5 with the highest activity was a Gram positive sporulative bacillus with motility. It did not produce indole and no acid was formed from mannitol by the bacterium. The 16S rRNA sequence of the strain showed $95{\sim}98%$ homology with those of Paenibacillus spp.. The bacterial isolate shared the highest homology with that of P. elgii (98%), but was named as Paenibacillus incheonensis YK5 due to differences in physiological properties. Butanol extract of the P. incheonensis YK5 culture grown in SST medium at $37^{\circ}C$ for 96 hr showed a broad antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive (MRSA and Streptococcus pneumoniae) and negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae) pathogenic bacteria and fungi (Cryptococcus neoformans and Trichophyton). The antimicrobial activity in the crude extract was stable in a broad range of temperature and pH, $20{\sim}100^{\circ}C$ and $3.0{\sim}6.0$, respectively. Therefore, the antimicrobial activity of P. incheonesis YK5 had potential as a novel antibiotics for pathogens including MRSA.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.79-83
• /
• 2011

Over-application of nitrogen fertilizer keeps increasing the salinity in the soils of greenhouse in domestic agriculture. In order to remove the excess amounts of soil nitrate, soil microorganisms which have high capacity of nitrate uptake were isolated from the upland soils and their nitrate uptake activities were measured. Strain GS2 was able to remove 50 mM nitrate within 12 h. After sequence comparison analysis of 16S rRNA gene, the strain was identified and named as Bacillus sp. GS2. When the growth and nitrate uptake activities were measured, maximal values were obtained at $30-40^{\circ}C$ and $37^{\circ}C$, respectively; however, both were optimal at pH 6-8. In the media containing 50 mM nitrate, Bacillus sp. GS2 removed 43 mM nitrate which is corresponding to 86% removal. Similar amounts of nitrate removal were observed at the nitrate concentrations up to 300 mM, showing a saturation in nitrate uptake at concentrations above 50 mM. These results imply that Bacillus sp. GS2 can be a good candidate for the microbial remediation of accumulated environmental nitrate because of its excellent growth and nitrate uptake activity.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.175-187
• /
• 2018

Myxobacteria produce diverse secondary metabolites for predation, self-defense, intercellular signaling, and other unknown functions. Many secondary metabolites isolated from myxobacteria show pharmaceutically useful bioactivity such as anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal activities with a unique mechanism of action. Therefore, a large number of myxobacterial strains have been isolated globally and many bioactive compounds have been purified from them. However, 16S rRNA database analysis indicates that there are far more types of myxobacterial species in the wild than have ever been isolated, and genome sequence analysis suggests that each myxobacterium is capable of producing much more metabolites than already known. In this article, the current status of studies on the secondary metabolites from myxobacteria, their biosynthetic genes, biological functions, and transcriptional regulatory factors governing gene expression were reviewed.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.55 no.3
• /
• pp.313-315
• /
• 2019

An anaerobic bacterial strain WCF-2 was isolated from cow dung in finding cellulose-degrading bacteria for use as silage additives. Strain WCF-2 showed a higher cellulolytic activity than Cellulosilyticum lentocellum DSM $5427^T$, the closest relative of strain WCF-2 (98.2% of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). We sequenced the complete genome of strain WCF-2 and compared it with that of C. lentocellum DSM $5427^T$. The OrthoANI value between the two strains was 97.9% thus strain WCF-2 was identified as C. lentocellum. The genome size of strain WCF-2 was 4,779,774 bp with a G + C content of 34.4%, 4,154 coding genes (CDS), 54 pseudo genes, and 142 RNA genes. Strain WCF-2 harbored seven cellulase genes, five of which showed low similarities with those of C. lentocellum DSM $5427^T$.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.357-363
• /
• 2012

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) is an economically important crop in Korea. While the consumption of the crop is gradually increasing, the yield is decreasing due to the injury of continuous cultivation or infection of soil-borne fungal pathogens such as Cylindrocarpon destructans, Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotinia nivalis. In order to find promising biocontrol agents, we have isolated 439 soil bacteria from ginseng cultivated soil and tested their antifungal activities against ginseng rot pathogens. Among them, 3 strains were finally selected and tested for the elucidation of their genetic and biochemical properties. They were identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens using phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Moreover, all selected strains showed positive reaction for PCR detection targeting biosynthetic gene sequences of iturin A and surfactin. The results provided promising evidences that the bacterial strains isolated from ginseng cultivated soil can be novel biocontrol agents for ginseng cultivaion.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.144-153
• /
• 2011

In this study, samples were collected from the Sumummulbangdui wetland at the Halla Mountain in Jeju Island in order to isolate novel bacterial strain. Bacterial strains belonging to the class Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria were isolated after spreading samples onto solid agar media. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of the strains assigned to the two classes were compared to those of type strains of the species. The strains that showed less than 98.7% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the validly published species were considered to be novel species candidates. A total of 19 strains were regarded as novel strains which can be regarded as novel species candidates. In the Alphaproteobacteria, 6 novel strains were affiliated with the genera Novosphingobium, and Rhizobium. A total of 13 novel strains belong to Gammaproteobacteria that assigned to the family Moraxellaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, and Enterobacteriaceae were identified. Cultural, physiological, chemotaxonomic characteristics and fatty acids compositions have been determined for the novel species candidates, and the characteristics are described in this study.

• Annals of Clinical Microbiology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.23-27
• /
• 2014

Rapidly growing mycobacteria are ubiquitous in the environment and are increasingly being recognized as opportunistic pathogens. Recently, a new species, Mycobacteium conceptionense, has been validated from the Mycobacterium fortuitum third biovariant complex by molecular analysis. However, there are few reports, and postsurgical wound infection by this species is rare. We report a case of postsurgical wound infection caused by M. conceptionense in an immunocompetent patient that was identified by a sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA, hps65, and rpoB genes.